Vanessa Bryant completed her first interview today since the tragic loss of her husband and daughter, Kobe and Gianna Bryant, alongside her oldest daughter, Natalia Bryant.
The NBA legend will be posthumously inducted into the 2020 NBA Hall of Fame with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Vanessa emotionally told ESPN, “It’s an incredible accomplishment and honor, and we’re extremely proud of him. Obviously we wish that he was here with us to celebrate,” she said as she fought back tears. “But it’s definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to be here.”
Vanessa added, “We’re incredibly proud of him and rest in solace knowing that he was probably going to be apart of the 2020 Hall of Fame class.” Natala, 17, silently sat next to her mother offering her moral support.
Jerry Colangelo, the Hall of Fame chair said, “We all have criteria we look at in terms of the nominees: All-Star appearances, All-League, first team, second team, third team, the various awards, the championships. There’s a whole list of things we look at. And each year there’s usually one person who stands out with an array of all those honors. But this time, with those three, the accumulative is unbelievable.”
Our prayers continue to go out to Kobe Bryant’s entire family.
