MANILA, Philippines — Kobe Bryant's eldest daughter Natalia became the representative of her late father in the latter's induction into the 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday (Saturday, Manila time).
Headlining the 2020 Hoops Class with the likes of Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, Bryant was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame with Natalia and his widow Vanessa representing him.
Natalia wore what would've been Bryant's Hall of Fame jacket and stood with her father's fellow Hall of Fame 2020 Class members.
Natalia Bryant put on the Hall of Fame jacket to honor her dad, Kobe ????
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 15, 2021
(via @Hoophall) pic.twitter.com/iIVbYxtRyR
Also included in the Class is Coaches Eddie Sutton and Rudy Tomjanovich, WNBA legend Tamika Catchings, three-time NCAA National Championship Coach Kim Mulkey, five-time Division II National Coach of the Year Barbara Stevens, and longtime FIBA executive Patrick Baumann.
Celebrating Bryant's induction, Vanessa also helped in designing a stand-alone Hall of Fame exhibit.
Nike also joined in the festivities for the five-time NBA champion's induction with a planned "Mamba Forever" Kobe 6 Protro colorway set for release in the summer.
Bryant, along with his teenage daughter Gigi and seven others, died in a tragic helicopter crash in Calabasas, California last January 2020.