NBA
USC women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb, respected widely in the game, announced a surprise to her team in December 2023, months before JuJu Watkins led the Trojans on a run to the Elite Eight. Gottlieb revealed their new collection of sneakers, gifted by the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation: the Nike Kobe 8 Protro, each pair matching USC’s color scheme.
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“I think, a lot of times, about the people who cared about it before it was the thing. And you all know, who’ve been around here, Kobe cared about it before it was the cool thing to care about women’s basketball,” Gottlieb said to her team as her voice cracked. She wiped away an escaping tear. “I think the greatest thing you can do is leave a legacy. I think that is one of his legacies. Yes. Women’s basketball matters. Girls’ basketball matters.”
It was a touching moment, one orchestrated by Vanessa Bryant — an illustration of his resilient significance. One of the country’s most respected coaches, leading a storied women’s basketball program, hailed him as a champion of their sport. And she’s just part of a growing chorus.
On the fifth anniversary of his stunning death, Bryant lives. Yes, in statues. In Nos. 8 and 24 Lakers jerseys. In the inspiration of many current NBA stars. In the culture and ethos of the NBA.
But also in Sabrina Ionescu and Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale. In the orange WNBA hoodie. In every celebrity who pulls up courtside to WNBA games. In every young girl working on her jumper and crossover, grinding for a crown she’s convinced she deserves. In JuJu.
“Kobe’s legacy is way more than basketball,” Loyd said. “It’s a lifestyle. He impacted the minds of so many. The hearts of so many. He knew that basketball could be a vessel but the knowledge he had could be passed down forever.”
Kobe was a hooper. And his aura, validation and embrace extended immeasurably into women’s hoops. He confirmed they are hoopers, too. He was an advocate for them to reach the mainstream of sports fandom. He shared in their belief of worthiness. His value to them and their game is unquestioned.
Though he’s gone, they still feel it.
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“I think him seeing where it is right now, he’d be so proud,” Skylar Diggins-Smith said of Kobe. “He was always a supporter of our league and the people in our league. And really making sure that he stood up as an advocate when it came to resources and came to supporting. … He made sure he positioned himself to hold space for all of us and our sport. … His fingerprints are all over our game today.”
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To be around 20 years ago is to understand the unlikeliness of this outcome for Kobe, the champion of women athletes. In 2003, when he was charged with sexual assault, it sparked a 14-month saga that devolved Kobe from Lakers hero to national villain.
Consider the massiveness of his scandal, the vitriol he’d earned and the depths of his fall from grace. It is wild to ponder how that guy — flying between court appearances in Eagle County, Colo., to playoff games at Staples Center — has become this guy.
Call it irony. Describe it as atonement. Credit it to redemption. Deem it unacceptable. Or even chalk it up to the inevitable conflicts in the lifespan of a truly complex figure. But Kobe’s impact on women’s basketball is as unmistakable as it is profound.
His complete legacy and lasting impact must include his role in shifting paradigms about the women’s game. The current elevated status of the WNBA, and its pending glow-up to come, is partially attributable to the Mamba stamp.
“He was the first one I saw consistently and to the masses promoting it,” Steph Curry said of Kobe. “Not just Gigi’s team, but girls’ basketball in general. He spent his time reaching out — obviously his relationship with Sabrina, showing up at games, what he did at the academy and opening up facilities for them. He was an unbelievable role model in terms of putting his name and stamp on women’s basketball as something to invest in.”
GO DEEPER
Five years after Kobe Bryant’s death, reminders remain everywhere in Los Angeles
The WNBA is experiencing new heights with regard to interest and business potential. A new women’s 3×3 league, Unrivaled, launched last summer — all orchestrated by WNBA players on the foundation of the sport’s viability. Women’s college basketball is as mainstream as it’s ever been. The best women players, at every level, are getting due shine and adoration, unlike most of their predecessors who dominated in silos.
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These women are responsible for their greatness due to their talent and work. But Kobe saw them. And when Kobe saw you, you were then seen.
Kobe was tangible in that way for them. Through phone calls and workouts. Through public praise and acknowledgment. Through attendance.
Even what he did to the WNBA’s orange hoodie — by simply wearing it and making it iconic — played a role.
He was intangibly beneficial. The credibility he delivered, the validation he offered. Kobe took his massive presence and eternal clout and aimed it at them.
Even trainer Phil Handy, the long-time NBA assistant coach with the Lakers and Cavaliers, took notice of Kobe’s influence on women’s basketball.
“I’ve always kind of had an interest in the women’s game,” said Handy, now a head coach in Unrivaled. “But he was really instrumental in (me having) a more finite understanding of it. When he retired and he started that team with Gigi and those young girls, I spent a lot of time with them in training. His whole mindset was so different, and he really wanted to put a lot of energy into the women’s game. We had many conversations about being able to do that. He played a huge part in inspiring me to really put more time and energy into the space.”
Curry said he remembers having dinner with Kobe in Los Angeles shortly before his death. The two NBA legends and their respective business partners planned to discuss the rigors of starting an investment firm, but they never got to business. Instead, the entire conversation was about Kobe’s passion for children’s storytelling.
“Inspiring their imagination,” Curry said. “Not just in basketball, but in life. Especially girls. It was cool to see a different side of him.”
Napheesa Collier, the mastermind behind Unrivaled, saw that side, too. Her husband, Alex Bazzell, is a respected trainer who worked with the girls at Mamba Academy. Collier was struck by how pure Bryant’s intentions came off.
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“The way that he just put himself aside and really was doing what was best for the girls,” Collier said. “He’s one of the best players ever to play the game, but he relied on his coaches and on the trainers and was really there just as a dad supporting his daughter.”
One of his last public appearances was courtside at Staples Center, in December 2019. He wore an orange WNBA hoodie while taking in a Lakers win over the Mavericks, his arm around his daughter Gianna, affectionately dubbed Gigi.
It was a fitting final public image. Symbolic. A doting father with his beloved daughter. A committed mentor with his prodigious protege. It was a window into the Kobe who proudly assumed a role as ambassador and friend of women hoopers.
“I aspire to be like Kobe,” Collier said.
He endeared himself to women’s basketball because, in word and action, he affirmed she could.
Sabreena Merchant contributed reporting.
(Photo illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos: Will Navarro/NBAE via Getty Images; Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images; Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images )
Marcus Thompson II is a lead columnist at The Athletic. He is a prominent voice in the Bay Area sports scene after 18 years with Bay Area News Group, including 10 seasons covering the Warriors and four as a columnist. Marcus is also the author of the best-selling biography “GOLDEN: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry.” Follow Marcus on Twitter @thompsonscribe
