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Earlier this year, the Lakers honored Kobe Bryant by erecting a statue of the superstar outside of their arena, and keen observers have discovered a handful of oversights courtesy of some spelling mistakes that weren’t noticed before it was unveiled.
It’s still a bit hard to believe it’s been more than four years since Kobe Bryant perished in the tragic helicopter crash that also claimed the life of his daughter Gianna, and the seven other people who were aboard the aircraft when it went down in Calabasas on January 26, 2020.
Bryant spent the entirety of his 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and while most people are familiar with the legacy he left behind, the fact that the venue that’s now known as Crypto.com Arena is referred to as “The House That Kobe Built” really tells you all you need to know about his impact on the franchise.
The 18-time All-Star won five NBA titles during his time with the Lakers and retired as the highest scorer in franchise history thanks to the 33,643 points he tallied while rocking purple and gold.
Los Angeles wasted no time retiring #8 and #24 following his retirement in 2016, and they took things one step further when they commissioned the statue that was installed outside their arena earlier this year.
That piece was designed by Julie Rotblatt Amrany in conjunction with Kobe and his wife Vanessa, with the former deciding he wanted the pose he struck after scoring 81 points against the Raptors in 2006 to be immortalized in the 19-foot-tall bronze monument.
The podium also features an image of the box score from the game in question, but as TMZ notes, a few wires somehow managed to get crossed before the information was literally etched in stone: Jose Calderon’s last name is misspelled as “Calderson,” Von Wafer is erroneously listed as “Vom,” and “Decicion” appears in two instances involving the phrase “Coach’s Decision.”
Those mistakes are incredibly minor in the grand scheme of things, although you have to wonder if the Lakers (who haven’t responded to the revelations as of this writing) will go out of their way to try to fix them.