The news surrounding the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna continues grow more and more heartbreaking by the minute.
Like her father, 13-year-old Gianna Bryant was a basketball enthusiast. According to TMZ, Bryant had recently filed paperwork to trademark the nickname “Mambacita” for Gianna. Kobe’s nickname, of course, was the Black Mamba. The trademark was to use the phrase for apparel. Bryant had included #Mambacita on some of his recent social media posts involving Gianna, including one in November where he complimented Gianna’s teammate Alyssa Altobelli for her defense.
Kobe and Gianna were on their way to basketball practice at the Mamba Academy on Sunday morning when their helicopter crashed. Altobelli and her father, John, were also on board. John Altobelli was the head baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California.
Kobe gushed about Gianna during a recent appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” saying that she wanted to play in the WNBA. Bryant spoke about how fans used to come up to him in public and say he had to have a son to carry on the legacy, but Gianna would tell them “I got this.”
Bryant has three other daughters. Thankfully, none of them or his wife Vanessa were involved in Sunday’s crash.
The tragedy of losing Kobe has been felt worldwide, but it makes it even more painful that children also lost their lives. Gianna and Alyssa had so much more to experience in life and appeared to be destined for success.
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