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It’s been two years since we lost Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant.
While the world admired the Black Mamba for his incredible basketball ability, a lot of fans loved his life off the court as a “Girl Dad” even more. Of course, the Los Angeles icon had a special bond with all of his daughters, but the connection he shared with Gigi is something he talked about all the time.
Take a look at some of the sweetest quotes Kobe gave us while gushing over his baby Gianna--including following in his footsteps with her love of basketball.
After his retirement in 2016, the Bryant went back to the Staples Center to watch his first Lakers game with Gigi.
“We just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes,” he revealed. “It wasn’t me sitting there, you know, as an athlete or a player or something like that, and you know it’s like about me, and I don’t like that. It was her, she was having such a good time.”
“[Gianna]’s pretty fierce. She loves playing, she loves shooting,” Bryant told Extra in July 2017. “She came to me last summer and asked if I would teach her the game a little bit, so she really just started playing, but she picked up things innately.”
The next year, he told Jimmy Kimmel that his daughter had plans to join the WNBA.
“[Gianna] will be standing next to me, and [fans] will be like, ‘You gotta have a boy. You and Vanessa gotta have a boy, you gotta have somebody carry on the tradition, the legacy.’ And she‘s like, ‘Oh! I got this. Don‘t need no boy for that! I got this.’”
In 2014, Bryant revealed to The New Yorker that Gigi also shared his temperament. While playing Candy Land, Bryant had to decide whether or not to let his then-3-year-old daughter win.
“She obviously can see that I can win, so she’ll know that I‘m not winning on purpose. Then what’s that teaching?” he asked at the time. “So I just play the game, I win — and the kid goes ape s***. She knocked the board over. ‘Baaaaaaa!’ I was, like, ‘S***, the kid’s like me. Damn it.‘”
Kobe and Gianna Bryant died on January 26, 2020 following a fatal helicopter crash in Los Angeles that took their lives along with 7 others. They are survived by Kobe’s wife Vanessa Bryant and their three other daughters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri.
“Be thankful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing,” Bryant told ESPN reporter Elle Duncan in 2018, who was expecting a baby girl at the time. “I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”
Rest In Peace, Kobe and Gigi.