Kobe Bryant inducted into the Hall of Fame

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Michael Jordan and Vanessa Bryant at Kobe Bryant’s Hall of Fame induction in Uncasville on May 15, 2021. – Kathy Willens / AP / SIPA

The basketball world continues to honor the memory and athletic qualities of Kobe Bryant. Almost fourteen months after his disappearance, the player was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday in a ceremony marked by the moving words of his widow Vanessa, accompanied by his idol, Michael Jordan.

This 2020 class ceremony was postponed last year because of the coronavirus. Relocated to Uncasville in Connecticut, it was also that of two other players who marked the league, at the same time as the former five-time champion with the Lakers: Tim Duncan, also five times titled with San Antonio, and Kevin Garnett, winner of a ring with Boston.

The most anticipated moment was nonetheless when Vanessa Bryant would speak in place of her late husband. Delicate exercise which she had carried out with as much courage as tears at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, in February 2020, during the tribute paid a few weeks after her death in a helicopter crash, which occurred on January 26 near Los Angeles, and also fatal to his daughter Gianna, 13, and the other seven crew members. Once again, the emotion was at the rendezvous in front of an audience of stars of the league who had made an appointment for the occasion.

“Bet on yourself”

Michael Jordan, standing at his side, struggled to suppress a tear when Vanessa Bryant thanked him for agreeing to introduce Kobe: “He admired you. It means so much to us ”. “I wish my husband was here so much. He and Gigi deserve to be there to see this. He would have a long list of people to thank who inspired him and empowered him to enter the Hall of Fame. Family, friends, mentors, the Lakers, teammates and opponents, ”she said.

“I always avoided praising my husband in public because I felt like he was getting enough from his fans all over the world and someone needed to bring him back to reality. Right now I’m sure he’s laughing in heaven because I’m about to congratulate him on his accomplishments on one of the most public stages ever, ”said Vanessa Bryant. “He once said to me: ‘If you have to bet on someone, bet on yourself’. I am happy that you bet on yourself because you have excelled (…) you are one of the greatest of all time ”, she concluded, in front of her daughters Natalia, Capri and Bianka.

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