LOS ANGELES — Corrections to the Kobe Bryant statue outside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles were completed on Tuesday.
The three spelling errors were corrected in time for the Lakers’ final regular-season home game on Tuesday against Golden State, ESPN reported.
The statue of Bryant, the Pro Basketball Hall of Famer who was killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, was placed outside the arena on Feb. 8, The Athletic reported. The 19-foot bronze statue was one of three commissioned by his widow, Vanessa Bryant, according to ESPN.
The Kobe Bryant statue restoration was finished this morning outside of https://t.co/RbGGF9YhdO Arena pic.twitter.com/zos90M7zoJ
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 9, 2024
The errors included misspellings of Jose Calderon’s and Von Wafer’s names, which were included in a replica box score from Bryant’s 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, the cable sports outlet reported. Bryant’s point total was second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on March 2, 1962.
Von Wafer’s name is misspelled as “Vom Wafer,” and Calderon’s name is chiseled into the base as “Jose Calderson,” according to The Athletic.
There was also a formatting mistake on another side of the statue’s base, ESPN reported. The word “decision” is misspelled twice in “Coach’s Decision” as “decicion,” according to The Athletic.
The Lakers confirmed the mistakes in a statement on March 11.
Bryant’s facsimile signature was adjusted to read “Kobe,” rather than “Kobe 24,” since the statue shows Bryant wearing his white, No. 8 Lakers uniform, ESPN reported.
The mistakes went viral after a tweet by German basketball journalist André Voigt showed photos of the errors, the sports outlet reported.
The sculpture was made by the Illinois-based couple Omri Amrany and Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, according to The Athletic.
The planned location and the unveiling date for the other two statues -- one of Bryant in his No. 24 uniform and the other with his daughter, Gianna, who also died in the crash, along with seven others -- are yet to be determined, a Lakers spokesperson told ESPN.
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