WNBA announces Kobe and Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award

Transcript

00:00 I'm Melissa Rowland with Sports Illustrated and we're here with our very own Jill Painter-Lopez.

00:09 Now Jill, the WNBA did something very special to honor Kobe Bryant and Gigi.

00:15 Tell us a little bit about the award that they created.

00:18 Well this award is called the Kobe and Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award and it is going

00:24 to be given starting in 2021 to a player who has made significant contributions and advancement

00:31 for girls and women's basketball.

00:32 Now this will follow Kobe who the last few years had made great strides not only kind

00:38 of taking a cue from his daughter Gianna who wanted to be a great basketball player and

00:42 get drafted in the WNBA and she did so with that honorary pick yesterday posthumously.

00:47 But it's also for other people to encourage others to kind of take up where Kobe Bryant

00:52 left off before he and Gianna tragically died in that helicopter crash.

00:56 Now one thing that is very cool about this is it's going to be presented next year at

01:00 the 2021 NBA All-Star Game so a very big platform and Vanessa Bryant is going to have a huge

01:06 hand in selecting the winner of that award.

01:08 So again it just kind of goes on to carrying on Kobe and Gigi's legacy which is very cool.

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