The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off their 2020-21 season on Tuesday night with a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. But before the game tipped off, the Lakers were awarded their NBA Championship rings for winning the NBA Finals back in October. The rings have a unique design, as it has a mamba snake behind the players’ numbers to honor the late Kobe Bryant. Each ring also has a removable top that shows all the Lakers’ retired jerseys, including Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash with his daughter Gianna and seven other people.
“We created a removable top that exposes the rafters that are up in Staples Center with [jerseys of] all of the retired Laker greats, with a special emphasis put on Kobe’s No. 8 and No. 24 jersey, and it’s set on a snakeskin-texture background,” ring designer Jason Arasheben said to ESPN. Each ring also features 17 trophies to represent the Lakers 17 titles, tying the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history. It’s also the highest carat weight and the most expensive ring in NBA history, as it weighs 16.45 carats.
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This is what it’s all about 💍 pic.twitter.com/kZlYMYb93X
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 23, 2020
“To bring that all to one moment and be able to celebrate that moment with our teammates and our franchise, it was a pretty cool feeling,” James said, as USA Today reported. “But at the end of the day, you’d definitely love to do to be able to do that with fans as well as my friends and family because they played into the sacrifice as well throughout the whole season.”
The ring ceremony was special, but the Lakers couldn’t get a win, as they fell to the Clippers 116-109. There were no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic but Lakers governor Jeanie Buss had a message for the fans before the ring ceremony.
“Let me speak directly to Lakers fans: we miss you so much,” Buss said. “The team misses you. But someday soon we’ll be together. When we are together, we’ll have something special to celebrate. Until then, we have some rings to give out.” Despite the loss, the Lakers are considered the favorite to win the championship in 2021.
