Kobe Bryant and Gianna’s Celebration of Life: What Attendees Received During the Memorial

The Kobe Bryant and Gianna Celebration of Life memorial took place on Monday and it gave fans an opportunity to say goodbye to the Los Angeles Lakers legend and his 13-year old daughter. Fans who were in attendance received a few free gifts. There were 20,000 fans at the Staples Center for the event and every fan received a t-shirt.

“The front of the shirt shows three images of Bryant with the girl, one of the hoops great holding a younger Gianna and kissing her forehead and a third, more recent pic of a smiling Gianna resting her head on her father’s shoulder,” the New York Post wrote.

Along with the shirt, fans received a program that has a ton of photos of Bryant and Gianna and they also received a KB pin.

Along with the gifts, fans got to hear from some of Bryant’s famous friends including NBA great Michael Jordan. The Chicago Bulls legend revealed he and Bryant were very close.

“In the game of basketball, in life, as a parent, Kobe left nothing in the tank,” Jordan said. “He left it all on the floor. Maybe it surprised people that Kobe and I were very close friends, but we were very close friends. Kobe was my dear friend. He was like a little brother. Everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between he and I. I just wanted to talk about Kobe.”

Jordan continued: “He used to call me, text, me, 11:30, 12:30, 2:30, 3 in the morning talking about post moves, footwork, and sometimes the triangle,” Jordan added. At first, it was an aggravation. But then it turned into a certain passion. This kid had passion like you would never know. It’s an amazing thing about passion. If you love something, if you have a strong passion for something, you would go to the extreme to try to get it.”

Bryant was a member of the Lakers from 1996-2016. In his 20 years in the NBA, Bryant won five NBA titles and appeared in the All-Star game 18 times.