Gianna Bryant was a basketball prodigy who was “hell-bent” on one day playing basketball at Connecticut.
That’s what her father, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, told The Times in 2019.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among the nine people who died in a Calabasas helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. Gigi was 13 years old and in eighth grade at the time.
Had she finished high school in four years and gone on to play for coach Geno Auriemma at UConn like she had hoped, Gianna would have been a freshman player on the Huskies team that defeated South Carolina 82-59 on Sunday for their 12th NCAA women’s basketball national championship.
Vanessa Bryant paid tribute to her daughter while congratulating Auriemma and Connecticut on her Instagram Stories.
“Gigi would’ve loved being there with you,” Bryant wrote on a post that included a graphic commemorating the Huskies’ first title since 2016. “‘When you think you can’t, UCONN’ — Gianna Bryant.”
Vanessa Bryant added a heart emoji and wrote, “Congratulations.”
Kobe Bryant said in 2019 that daughter Gianna was “hell-bent” on playing college basketball at Connecticut.
(Jessica Hill / Associated Press)
Gianna shared her father’s passion for basketball and seemed to have inherited his skills as well. The NBA great had high praise for his daughter’s abilities on the court.
“This one,” he said, pointing to Gigi in 2019, “she’s something else.”
Kobe Bryant coached Gianna’s club basketball team. They were on the way to a tournament at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks at the time of the accident.
At Vanessa Bryant’s request, Auriemma spoke at the public memorial service held for Kobe and Gianna on Feb. 24, 2020, at Staples Center. He mentioned the first time Gianna visited the UConn locker room.
“The look on her face,” Auriemma said. “The smile, the way her eyes just took everything in, how excited she was to be around, in her mind, royalty. …
“And the most impressive thing about that point in time was how Kobe stepped as far back as he could. So anyone taking pictures, anyone there would not know that this was Kobe Bryant’s daughter. This was her moment. This was her time to shine. This was her time to experience all the things that he’s experienced in his life. He was being dad then; he wasn’t being Kobe Bryant. And he was allowing Gigi to be Gigi and not Kobe Bryant’s daughter.”
