Kobe Bryant to be Honored in National Garden of American Heroes

Los Angeles Lakers and NBA legend Kobe Bryant will be honored with a statue in the National Garden of American Heroes, President Donald Trump said on Thursday.

President Donald Trump announced the tribute during a Black History ceremony at the White House. Kobe Bryant will join late boxing star Muhammad Ali and civil rights and MLB trailblazer Jackie Robinson among the sports icons with statues in the garden, which is located in Washington, D.C.

Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash along with his daughter, Gianna Bryant, in Calabasas, Calif. on Jan 26, 2020. The crash also took the lives of seven other people.

A superstar over his 20-year professional basketball career, Bryant was a five-time NBA Champion and two-time Finals MVP with the Los Angeles Lakers. He also was an 18-time NBA All-Star and won a league MVP award in 2008.

Bryant finished his professional career as the fourth leading scorer in NBA history with 33,643 points, trailing only Karl Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lebron James for the most career points all-time.

Known as the "Black Mamba", Bryant scored 81 points in a single game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, a feat only bested by Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points with the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks in 1962.

Bryant is often regarded as one of the greatest players in league history. He also won an Academy Award for his animated short film Dear Basketball in 2017.

He was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Along with Bryant, Trump announced Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Coretta Scott King, and Frederick Douglass, will also get statues.

The dedication was first unveiled by Trump in 2020 and celebrates historic figures in American history.