Kobe Bryant: This Tribute to the ‘Girl Dad’ Is Giving Lakers Fans Chills

When Kobe Bryant retired from the NBA, it gave him an opportunity to spend extra time with his family. And with him having four daughters, he was known as being a great “girl dad” according to ESPN SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan. When the news of Bryant’s death was released, a number of former teammates, current NBA players and celebrities mourned the loss. However, the tribute Duncan did on SportsCenter went viral.

Duncan starts the video off by revealing she saw Bryant with his third-oldest daughter Bianka who was one-year-old at the time. She said he spoke to Bryant “one time, backstage at an event for ESPN in New York. And I saw him, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Kobe. I gotta get a picture for the ‘gram.’”

“Got the picture,” Duncan continued, “[but] I didn’t get it for a few minutes because, as I approached him, he immediately commented on my rather large, eight-month pregnant belly.”

She went on to say that Bryant wanted to talk about Duncan’s pregnancy and asked her if she was having a boy or a girl.

“‘A girl,’ I said, and then he high-fived me: ‘Girls are the best,’” she said. “I asked him for advice on raising girls, seeing as though he quite famously had three at the time, and he said, ‘Just be grateful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing.’”

Duncan ended the video with the one thing positive thing to take away from the tragedy was Bryant got to do what he enjoyed the most.

“When I reflect on this tragedy and that half an hour that I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago,” Duncan said, “I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved the most: being a dad, being a girl dad.”

A number of fans responded to the video.

“Blessed to be a dad,” one fan wrote. “Vowing to use the mamba mentality on my two beautiful babies.”

“I can’t stop thinking about him Gigi’s Alyssa Payton and all the families in helicopters last moments,” another fan wrote.

“Well spoken,” another Instagram user wrote. “Kobe’s legacy will live forever! Heaven’s got some major ballers now; Rest well Mamba, Rest well Mambacita.”

Bryant and his 13-year old daughter, Gianna were two of the nine people who died in a helicopter crash outside the Los Angeles area on Sunday morning. They were heading to Bryant’s Mamba Academy for a basketball tournament.