Vanessa Bryant Shares Birthday Message For Late Daughter Gigi

Gigi tragically handed away alongside her father, Kobe Bryant, in January 2020, and Vanessa has shared many tributes for her daughter that honors her power, spirit, and reminiscence.

Immediately, Thursday, Might 1, Vanessa shared a tribute on Instagram to honor her late daughter.

She captioned a photograph of Gigi in her basketball uniform, “Glad birthday, Gigi! Mommy loves and misses you greater than I might ever specific. I like you Gianna.” She additionally included #Mambacita, her age 19, and her birthday 5/1. Vanessa additionally shared the picture to her Instagram Story.

Many individuals dropped into the remark part of her Instagram put up to share birthday needs and purple hearts for Gigi.

Vanessa can be mother to Natalia, 22, Bianka, 8, and Capri, 5.

Earlier right now, Nike launched the brand new Nike Kobe 9 EM “Mambacita” sneakers in honor of Gigi‘s birthday.

The Gigi version of the favored Kobe 9 Protro contains a black and white colorway, Gigi’s identify and No. 2 on the again of the sneakers, and “Mambacita” branding on the tongue. Proceeds from the sale of Gigi’s line profit the Mamba and Mambacita Sports activities Basis.

Nike additionally launched jerseys in honor of Gigi on the similar time of the sneaker launch on the SNKRS app.

Final 12 months on Might 1, Nike launched a sneaker in honor Gigi’s 18th birthday.

“Gigi modified the sport. Endlessly. On 5.1 we have fun Gianna ‘Gigi’ Bryant’s 18th birthday and the transformational influence she had on highlighting ladies’s sports activities with the discharge of the Kobe 8 Protro ‘Mambacita,'” Vanessa wrote on social media alongside a video that includes the shoe.

Nike’s web site shared an outline of the shoe that explains extra in regards to the design of the shoe, in addition to Gigi’s influence on the sport.

“Arriving on her 18th birthday, the colorway is impressed by her youth basketball crew’s uniform whereas the butterfly sample nods to Gigi’s transformational influence on the sport,” the shoe description reads.

“Private touches, like Gigi’s identify and quantity on the heel, remind you to play with pleasure, curiosity and competitiveness whereas by no means taking any alternative as a right, identical to Gigi. And when it’s time to step on the courtroom, the golden ‘Mambacita’ coronary heart and wings allow you to carry Gigi’s ardour for sport into the long run.”

Earlier this week, a web page devoted to Kobe and Gigi’s murals shared the unhappy information that one of many murals in downtown LA was vandalized. A GoFundMe web page that was set as much as elevate funds to revive the mural over time received a donation within the quantity of $5,000 from Lakers star, Luka Doncic after phrase received out in regards to the mural’s destruction.

“It was all the time vital to present again to the neighborhood,” Doncic stated after Lakers observe, based on the Associated Press. “They gave me a lot, so I simply need to give again.”

Doncic joined the Lakers a number of months in the past when he was traded from the Dallas Mavericks. Bryant spent his total 20-year profession with the Lakers.

In accordance with Newsweek, Doncic additionally stated, “Kobe is L.A. He and Gigi imply a lot to this metropolis, to the Lakers group and to me personally. I am glad to do something to assist be sure that he and his daughter are honored.”