Nike Pays Tribute to Kobe Bryant With Emotional New Commercial

Kobe Bryant and his 13-year daughter Gianna were remembered at their public memorial service on Monday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with over 20,000 people in attendance. As the memorial service was going on, Nike released a new Bryant commercial which was very emotional. The commercial did not have any videos of the Los Angeles Lakers legend as it was all text and audio from Bryant's life. It was accompanied by various taglines before the word "forever." The commercial came to a close with the words "Mamba Forever," which has led to it being viewed close to three million times as of Tuesday morning.

Mamba Forever.

(sound on) pic.twitter.com/B2LUIcpRCc

— Nike (@Nike) February 24, 2020

The memorial service featured Bryant's widow, Vanessa, speaking to the crowd and she had a very emotional message for him.

"God knew they couldn't be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to him together," Vanessa said in regards to the tragic loss of both Kobe and Gianna, who passed away on Jan. 26. "Babe, you take care of our Gigi. And I got Nati, Bibi and Coco. We're still the best team. We love and miss you, Boo Boo and Gigi. May you both rest in peace and have fun in heaven until we meet again one day. We love you both and miss you. Forever and always. Mommy."

NBA legend Michael Jordan also spoke to the fans in attendance and he revealed the relationship the two had off the court.

"He used to call me, text, me, 11:30, 12:30, 2:30, 3:00 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."

Shaquille O'Neal, UConn women's head basketball coach Geno Auriemma, WBNA star Diana Taurasi, University of Oregon women's basketball player Sabrina Ionescu and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka also spoke at the event, which was emceed by Jimmy Kimmel. Beyonce opened the memorial service with musical performance, and Alicia Keys and Christiana Aguilera also performed.