In February, the Lakers unveiled a statue to the public honoring Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant at Crypto.com Arena. Sandy Hooper-USA TODAY

Lakers issue statement on spelling errors on Kobe Bryant statue

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Mar 12, 2024 9:19 AM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers plan to fix the spelling errors on the Kobe Bryant statue unveiled outside the Crypto.com Arena last month.

After close-up photos of the errors went viral Monday, a Lakers spokesperson issued the following statement via ESPN:

"We have been aware of this for a few weeks and are already working to get it corrected soon."

The 19-foot bronze statue, which captures the moment Bryant walked off the court following his 81-point game against Toronto in 2006, misspelled the names of former Raptors guard Jose Calderon and Lakers forward Von Wafer in the marble base containing a replica box score of the game. Also, the statue, designed by artist Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, misspelled "DNP — Coach's Decision" as "DNP — Coach's Decicion."

It seems like Kobe Bryant's statue has misspelled 'Jose Calderon,' 'Von Wafer,' and 'Coach's Decision.'

(h/t @drevoigt ) pic.twitter.com/Xg2DFRHltS
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 11, 2024

Although neither Calderon nor Wafer commented on their names being misspelled, scores of fans on social media took issue with the Lakers for not doing their due diligence before unveiling the statue.

Hopefully, the next two in the trifecta of Bryant statues will be error-free. According to several reports, two more statues honoring "The Mamba" will be unveiled in the future — one of Bryant in his No. 24 jersey and another of him with his daughter, Gianna, who also died in the tragic 2020 helicopter crash. The unveiling dates of the next two statues, or their planned location, have yet to be determined.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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