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Kobe Bryant would have celebrated his 45th birthday today. The legendary basketball player was born on August 23, 1978. To commemorate the occasion, his daughter, Natalia Bryant, shared a sweet Instagram story remembering her father.
Natalia shared the photo today, showing a sweet moment between herself and her father. The image shows Natalia and her father wearing matching outfits. Natalia is a toddler in the image and is wearing a red shirt with a brown coat. She appears to be jumping and is smiling. Kobe is also wearing a red shirt and a brown coat, which he rounded out with a hat and some jeans. He looks happy and appears to be looking at Natalia.
"Happy birthday Daddy," Natalia wrote over the image, adding a heart emoji.
Kobe Bryant's tribute at the US Open
Last night, the US Open commemorated Kobe Bryant's birthday with a special tribute. Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios chose to wear Kobe's Lakers jersey to the tennis court for the inaugural US Open Mixed Madness event, with both of them wearing the number 8 printed on their chests.
"Naomi’s the captain of the team so she gave the orders for me to wear this and I just had to follow suit," said Kyrgios, with Osaka interrupting him and saying that he was the "fashionista" of their group. "I guess it was a group decision," she concluded.
Kyrgios and Osaka were teamed up together to play against Amanda Anisimova and Taylor Fritz.
Kyrgios has been an outspoken fan of Bryant, wearing the Lakers jersey to enter a tennis match against Rafael Nadal in 2020. "I never met Kobe but basketball’s practically my life, I watch it every day and I’ve been following it for as long as I remember," Kyrgios said at the time. He revealed that he was motivated by Bryant and that he admired him greatly.
"I can never imitate what Kobe did, but there maybe [are] times in my life when I try," he said.