A celebration of life for Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna is scheduled to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday, and details about the event are slowly being released ahead of its start time. According to Los Angeles Times sports columnist Arash Markazi, one of the ways organizers chose to honor Bryant is with 33,643 roses placed around the center stage, which represent the number of points Bryant scored during his time in the NBA.
Bryant played in the league for 20 seasons, all of which were spent with the Los Angeles Lakers and the majority of which were played within the Staples Center. During his career, he earned five NBA championships with the Lakers and was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He retired in 2016, scoring 60 points in his final game against the Utah Jazz.
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Monday’s memorial will reportedly last three hours and will likely feature a number of tributes to Bryant, though nothing has officially been announced.
Fans who are unable to attend can watch the memorial via CBS News. The coverage will be live from Los Angeles and is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT. The memorial will also be live streamed on Yahoo! Sports and will air live on ESPN, the ESPN App and ESPN Radio at 1 p.m. ET.
The date is significant for the Bryant family as it combines Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers jersey number, 24, Gianna’s jersey number, 2, and 20, the number of years Bryant was a Laker, the majority of which were spent playing at the Staples Center. Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, added on Instagram that 20 is also the number of years that she and her husband were together. Vanessa and the couple’s three surviving daughters, Natalia, Bianka and Capri, are expected to attend the memorial, along with many members of the Lakers organization and other friends and family.
A select number of fans were able to purchase tickets for the event, and many began arriving at the arena when the doors were opened to them at 8 a.m. PT on Monday morning. The Lakers announced that the memorial will not be shown on screens outside the arena and have encouraged fans who do not have tickets not to come downtown in an effort to limit crowds.
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