But Kobe is one of the most influential and beloved players to ever step foot on an NBA floor and his reach goes well beyond the basketball court as he was a mentor and inspiration to many across the globe.

So many people always make sure to send their birthday wishes and respects to Kobe on this day and this year was no different. Of course, Kobe’s wife Vanessa made sure to wish him a happy birthday as did his oldest daughter Natalia who took to Instagram to show her love:

#HappyBirthdayKobe #MambaForever pic.twitter.com/Kync0MEmK2

— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) August 23, 2023

 

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A post shared by n a t a l i a (@nataliabryant)

Of course, some current players would show their love to the Lakers legend as well. Current Lakers superstar LeBron James and recently retired forward Carmelo Anthony, a former Laker himself both took to Instagram as did current Mavericks star Kyrie Irving while Kobe’s former Lakers teammates Caron Butler, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol took to Twitter:

 

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A post shared by Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony)

Love this graphic Kyrie Irving posted for Kobe on his birthday. #MambaForever pic.twitter.com/WXl5DVfw5E

— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) August 23, 2023

4-Life . pic.twitter.com/7cHKWDB5VB

— Caron Butler (@realtuffjuice) August 23, 2023

Happy 45th birthday Kobe Bean!! You are missed around the whole world https://t.co/DMzxcGLn0L

— LAMAR ODOM (@LamarOdom) August 23, 2023

Happy birthday brother pic.twitter.com/iwTjDKpwnX

— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) August 23, 2023

Of course the Lakers themselves made sure to wish Kobe a happy birthday as did the official FIBA Twitter account:

Join us in celebrating the icon, legend, and Black Mamba. Happy birthday, Kobe pic.twitter.com/mB0v5w9u76

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 23, 2023

𝑴𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒂 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓

Kobe Bryant would’ve turned 45 today pic.twitter.com/2qFWt1dGMu

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 23, 2023

Even though it remains difficult for Kobe to no longer be here on this earth, his birthday allows everyone he impacted to reflect and remember all of the positives he brought to us all.

Drake recalls first time meeting Lakers legend Kobe Bryant

Just days before Kobe Bryant’s birthday, hip-hop icon Drake was inside the arena Kobe helped make famous as part of his It’s All A Blur tour. And during his concert Drake reminisced about his first time meeting the Lakers legend.

Drake revealed that he was waiting on the tour bus of fellow hip-hop legend Lil Wayne to listen to his Carter 3 album which had yet to be released. Wayne told Drake that they had to wait for one more person to arrive and that person turned out to be the Lakers great himself, Kobe Bryant.

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss has continually said that once things are in place, the fans will know, but that didn’t stop rumors from popping up. The most recent one said that the statue would also involve his daughter Gianna Bryant who also perished in the crash, and would be unveiled on August 8, 2024, representing both of Kobe’s numbers that he wore throughout his Lakers career.

But it looks as if those rumors were false. According to Arash Markazi of The Messenger, there is still no set date for the unveiling of the Kobe statue and while conversations have been had, nothing is set and stone just yet:

The Kobe & Gigi statue unveiling on 8/8/24 report is not true according to multiple people at the Lakers and AEG.

Kobe is getting a statue one day. We all know that. There has been talk about including Gigi but a statue hasn’t been commissioned and a date has not been set yet. pic.twitter.com/l4zboVAM5U

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) August 22, 2023

It is unfortunate to hear as the 8/8/24 date of the unveiling makes so much sense and would be a wonderful gesture. As Markazi said, Kobe will be getting a statue one day, and it might still be on that day, but nothing between the Lakers and the Bryant estate has been agreed to just yet.

Something of this magnitude, paying respect to arguably the greatest player in Lakers franchise history, has to be done right and be perfect. There is no doubt the Lakers will exhaust all options to ensure exactly that and Kobe’s wife Vanessa and the rest of the Bryant family undoubtedly want the same.

Jeanie Buss has continually said that when the time is right, the fans will get the update and that time simply has yet to come.

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss shares favorite Kobe Bryant memories

Of course, Kobe had so many on-court memories during his time with the Lakers, and there’s a couple that stick out in the mind of Jeanie Buss.

The Lakers owner recently spoke on a couple of her favorites, noting how his famed 81-point game was not a case of him running up the score but rather doing everything he could to bring the Lakers back from a halftime deficit.

Buss then recalled arguing with then-boyfriend and Lakers coach Phil Jackson about not leaving Kobe in a few weeks earlier when he famously outscored the Dallas Mavericks through three quarters, finishing with 62 points without touching the floor for the final 12 minutes.

Bryant provided Lakers fans with countless memorable moments in his 20-year career wearing the purple and gold, whether it be game-winners, 50-point games, championship performances, or moments that went beyond the game like knocking down a pair of free throws after tearing his Achilles tendon, but which one was the most memorable?

In honor of everything that Bryant gave Lakers Nation, for his 45th birthday we decided to do a special roundtable in which our staff shares their favorite Kobe Bryant moments ever:

Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno):

My favorite Kobe Bryant moment is probably all of them. But, needing to pick one and for the sake of trying to be different, I’ll bypass his final game and shooting free throws on a torn Achilles for a memorable night against the Raptors. … No, not that one.

In March 2013, Bryant scored 41 points on an efficient 11-of-22 shooting, and dished out 12 assists to lead a comeback and 10th straight win for the Lakers. His heroics began on a contested 3-pointer that cut the Raptors’ lead to two points with 1:41 remaining in the game. The degree of difficulty on that shot end up paling in comparison to a fadeaway he wound up making from the corner.

The barrage continued when Bryant beat a double team out of a timeout to free himself for a 3-pointer that eventually sent the game into overtime as the Raptors missed the final shot of regulation. The extra period didn’t see much from Bryant in terms of points, though he punctuated the night with a slam dunk to give the Lakers a decisive lead.

Corey Hansford (@TheeCoreyH):

Someone like Kobe Bryant has so many memorable moments that it’s easy for some of them to be forgotten. One of my personal favorites is one that isn’t brought up that often.

The Lakers were the clear favorites to come out of the Western Conference in 2010, but they got a much tougher than expected challenge in the Conference Finals from Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers had a 3-2 series lead, but the Suns were fighting hard to force a Game 7 back at Staples Center.

The Lakers led 105-100 with 45 seconds left and everyone knew where the ball was going. Suns forward Grant Hill played absolutely perfect defense as he forced Kobe to pick up his dribble right at the three-point line and didn’t fall for his pump fake. But it still didn’t matter as Kobe rose above him to hit an absolutely ridiculous fadeaway to silence the crowd.

And just for good measure, Kobe turned around and patted Suns coach Alvin Gentry on the butt.

Everything about it was just so, Kobe. To have the confidence to take a shot that difficult in that situation, the skill to knock it down, and the audacity to basically taunt the coach of the team you just eliminated from the playoffs, no one else could pull something like that off. All I could do was laugh because I knew Kobe just did it again.

Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane):

There are so many great Kobe Bryant moments to choose from, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one. However, the one that I remember most was the regular season finale in 2004.

With the Pacific Division title on the line, Kobe had 12 points in the fourth quarter, including an incredible game-tying three over Ruben “The Kobe Stopper” Patterson. Kobe wasn’t done there though.

With 1 second on the clock in double overtime and the Lakers down two, Bryant again drained a three over outstretched hand of Theo Ratliff to get the win. It was an amazing shot, turning into his strong hand, fading away, nothing but net. To this day I have no idea how he was able to get so much arc on that shot and still get it to the rim while falling away.

It was an incredible display of skill and superhuman strength. He was so unbelievably good that Patterson, whose career centered around defending Kobe, went to his nemesis after the game and asked Bryant to autograph the shoes he had worn and give them to him. Classic Mamba.

Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand):

So many moments to choose from but I would say my favorite Kobe moment is his last game. After all the injuries that Kobe was forced to deal with towards the end of his career, for him to give us all one last vintage-Kobe performance was truly special.

We hadn’t seen Kobe score more than 40 points in years before that game, so when Shaq challenged him to score 50 in his last game we all laughed it off, saying we just hoped he would get to 30 and not get hurt.

But Kobe, in a fashion that only Kobe can, one-upped us all by dropping 60, knocking down every clutch shot down the stretch, and leading his Lakers to one last comeback victory.

The pre-game tributes, his performance that night in the game and his speech afterward where he coined the phrase “Mamba out” were all absolutely perfect, almost like a movie, and watching it all unfold is something I will remember for a very long time, more than any other moment in his career.

Reaves has addressed a number of weaknesses in his game through his first two seasons, a part of his meteoric rise undoubtedly. He significantly improved his outside shot between his rookie and sophomore seasons while increasing volume. He became a better ball-handler and passer while bulking up to provide a boost defensively.

One flaw that still remains is his availability. Minor injuries and a rookie wall in his first two seasons limited him to 61 and 64 games, respectively. And while that is still around 75% of the Lakers’ regular season games, he has made it a point to improve in this realm as well.

Reaves has a lofty goal for the 2023-24 season when it comes to his availability, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic:

One of Reaves’ goals going into next season is to play 82 games for the first time. After hitting a wall midway through his rookie season, he trained hard last summer to be better prepared for his sophomore year. Even so, he appeared to run out of gas at times during the playoffs — most notably between the end of an opening-round series against Memphis and the beginning of a second-round series against Golden State.

He is working with the Lakers’ strength and conditioning team this offseason — including throughout his time abroad with Team USA — to better handle his increasing workload. He also is working to sharpen his ballhandling and playmaking as he prepares to run more of the offense next season. Reaves can shift between either backcourt spot, but says, “I want to get back to playing point guard a little more and what we did at the end of the year. I feel comfortable and like I’m able to do that.”

In his rookie campaign, Reaves missed stretch of 10 and seven games for the bulk of his absent time while missing a handful of games here and there. Last season, 16 of Reaves’ 18 missed games came due to one injury. So improved strength and conditioning could be the only barrier between Reaves and an 82-game campaign.

Playing every game would not only be a huge benefit to the Lakers, who are built around two players likely to miss time, but it would also be beneficial to Reaves’ All-Star candidacy.

Reaves never stopped believing in himself

Despite going undrafted, Reaves never lost faith in his ability to produce at the highest level. The third-year Lakers guard says he was not surprised by his ascension because he always felt it was possible for him. Nothing changed when his name was not called on draft night.

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The Lakers have been a franchise known for having stars and winning championships, something that the Buss family is familiar with. They have made it a standard since inheriting the team when Jerry bought it, although one of the most influential players that crossed paths with the organization was Bryant in 1996.

He was able to win five championships for the organization, three with O’Neal early in his career and then two with Gasol later on. Bryant was someone who could score at will and the way his ‘Mamba Mentality’ is idolized, there are so many moments and stories that he has left Lakers fans.

Jeanie was asked about her favorite Bryant moments and while it is hard to pick a few, she has two that are prominent, via Big Baby Jonathan:

“There are so many great memories. I guess I would, you know think to the 81 point game and I’ve had to explain many times to people that it wasn’t Kobe just playing in garbage time and you know taking advantage of a team that was under manned. We were behind at halftime and Kobe did what Kobe had to do to make sure we won that game. So, he scored 81 points to make sure that the Lakers would walk away with that victory. A few weeks before that, he had gone for 60 or 61 points against the Dallas Mavericks and that was by just the third quarter. Phil [Jackson] took him out in the fourth quarter and I’ll never forget our drive home, I got in an argument with Phil and I said, ‘why didn’t you just leave Kobe in? You know he was scoring at will.’ He said ‘Jeanie we were gonna win the game, what was the point? You don’t do that, that’s not what you do.’ Then for him to you know a few weeks later, score 81 points because that’s what he had to do. You know that the willpower of Kobe was so strong and could never be underestimated.

Bryant has been the closest to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point record with that 81-point game, something that many people view as the league’s best scoring performance. His power to score at will was something to behold and Jeanie recognized that.

While Bryant’s passing was way too soon, it is always fun to go and watch some of many great scoring performances the Mamba has given the Lakers organization to appreciate the kind of player he was.

Derek Fisher named head coach at Crespi High School in Encino

A former championship teammate of Bryant, Derek Fisher, has landed another head coaching gig. Fisher will now be the head coach at Crespi High School in Encino. After coaching in the NBA and WNBA, Fisher will now experiment at the high school level.

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