Recently unveiled Kobe Bryant statue contains typos on box score at base

The Kobe Bryant statue unveiled on Feb. 8 to honor the Los Angeles Lakers legend outside Crypto.com Arena has four typos on the box score on the base of the statue, the team confirmed to The Athletic on Monday.

“We have been aware of this for a few weeks and are already working to get it corrected soon,” a team spokesperson told The Athletic.

Former Lakers guard Von Wafer’s name is misspelled as “Vom Wafer.” Former Toronto Raptors guard José Calderón’s name is incorrectly spelled as “Jose Calderson.” And the word “decision” is wrongly spelled twice in “Coach’s Decision,” misspelled as “decicion.”

(Photo: Jon Krawczynski / The Athletic)

The sculpture was made by the Illinois-based couple Omri Amrany and Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, who designed and created all of the statues outside Crypto.com Arena. Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, and the Lakers organization also collaborated on the design. Attempts to contact Amrany and Rotblatt-Amrany for comment were not successful.

The statue’s pose captures Kobe’s career-high 81-point game against the Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, with his right arm in the air and index finger pointing to the fans. The sculpture is surrounded by five championship trophies, representing the five Lakers titles in Kobe’s career.

The base of the statue is etched with KOBE BEAN BRYANT “Black Mamba” and includes the box score from the game. The side of the base reads a quote from Kobe, “Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend.”

The Kobe Bryant statue pic.twitter.com/jhZz5d9Ef2

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) February 9, 2024

André Voigt, a German basketball journalist, brought attention to the typos in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. The team didn’t disclose an exact timeline for the corrections.

According to Vanessa, there will be three Kobe statues outside Crypto.com Arena: one wearing No. 8, one wearing No. 24 and one with his daughter, Gianna.

Kobe is the seventh Lakers legend commemorated with a statue in Star Plaza, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, announcer Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Jerry West.

Required reading

• Remembering Kobe Bryant
• Kobe Bryant’s basketball influences still resonate: ‘Go out there and be a dog’
• Remembering Kobe Bryant’s final game: Five years later, five untold stories about the Lakers legend’s 60-point night

(Photo: AP / Eric Thayer)