{"id":1144763,"date":"2020-04-18T11:42:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T15:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1144763"},"modified":"2020-04-18T11:44:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T15:44:40","slug":"gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Although she didn\u2019t live long enough to see her dream of following her father into pro basketball, the daughter of Los Angeles Lakers great <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/kobe-bryants-6-million-investment-in-a-sports-drink-got-him-paid\/\">Kobe Bryant<\/a> has been given an honor that would have paved the way for her goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The WNBA steps up to remember Gianna Bryant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Work hard. Never settle. Use that Mamba Mentality.&quot;<br><br>Vanessa Bryant thanks the WNBA for honoring Gigi, and shares some wisdom for the 2020 draft class. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CwvyxqG0fi\">pic.twitter.com\/CwvyxqG0fi<\/a><\/p>&mdash; ESPN (@espn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1251289390653079552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 17, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The WNBA opened its 2020 draft on Friday by announcing three honorary selections in remembrance of the Jan. 26 helicopter crash that took their lives. Young basketball teammates <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/vanessa-bryants-heartbreaking-first-words-since-kobe-bryants-passing\/\">Gianna Bryant<\/a>, Alyssa Altobelli, and Payton Chester perished in the tragedy as did retired NBA star Kobe Bryant and five others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kobe Bryant was an NBA draft pick coming out of high school in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vanessa\nBryant posted on Instagram that being drafted someday by the women\u2019s\nprofessional league would have been a &#8220;dream come\ntrue&#8221; for her 13-year-old daughter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The announcement was made by <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/does-the-nba-own-the-wnba\/\">WNBA<\/a> commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who was overseeing the draft from her New Jersey home as the league\u2019s teams made their selections via video conferencing because of the coronavirus pandemic. The first official pick of the draft was made by the New York Liberty, who selected Sabrina Ionescu. The University of Oregon guard is a Bryant family friend who spoke at the memorial for Kobe and Gianna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WNBA honor follows a tribute to Gianna and Kobe Bryant that was made at the NBA All-Star Game in Chicago in February. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/news\/wnba-introduces-kobe-gigi-bryant-wnba-advocacy-award\/\">The women\u2019s league announced<\/a> the additional step of creating the Kobe and Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award that will recognize a player making contributions to the advancement of girls and women's basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The crash that killed Kobe Bryant is under investigation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WNBA Selects Alyssa Altobelli, Gianna Bryant and Payton Chester As Honorary Draftees\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M6VHtNpZObw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Gianna Bryant, Payton Chester, Alyssa Altobelli, and six others were on their way to a basketball tournament when <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/the-tragic-reason-why-kobe-bryant-started-traveling-by-helicopter\/\">their helicopter crashed<\/a> into a mountain in Calabasas, California, under foggy conditions on Jan. 26. All nine people on board were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nNational Transportation Safety Board began an investigation immediately after\nthe crash but its final report may not be issued before the end of the year. Preliminary\ndetails revealed by the government agency said that the Sikorsky helicopter operated\nby Island Express Helicopters did not show signs of engine failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vanessa Bryant filed papers in February announcing her intent to sue the owner and operator of the helicopter over the crash that killed retire star Kobe Bryant and their oldest daughter. The <a href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/news\/local-news\/vanessa-bryant-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-helicopter-operator-in-fatal-crash\/\">wrongful death lawsuit<\/a> filed in Los Angeles Superior Court asserted the pilot was negligent by flying in cloudy conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the visual\nflight rules that the pilot should have been following, he was required to be\nable to see where he was going. The pilot was cited by the Federal Aviation\nAdministration in May 2015 for violating those rules, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Oregon star is picked first in the draft<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and their shared love of basketball\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UGbvBRevhh0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although\nthe tribute to the daughter of Vanessa and Kobe Bryant was the big early news,\nthe star of Friday\u2019s WNBA draft was University of Oregon guard Sabrina Ionescu.\nThe New York Liberty made her the top overall selection following an NCAA\ncareer in which she became the first Division I player \u2013 male or female \u2013 to accumulate\n2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nnext player off the board was Oregon teammate Satou Sabally, a junior who went\nto the Dallas Wings. The Ducks landed a third player in the top eight when the\nChicago Sky took Ruthy Hebard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nWNBA season was originally scheduled to begin May 15 but is officially on hold\nduring the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of former NBA great Kobe Bryant, an honorary draft pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":1144770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,69717],"tags":[4829],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant&#039;s Footsteps Again - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of former NBA great Kobe Bryant, an honorary draft pick.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of former NBA great Kobe Bryant, an honorary draft pick.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-18T15:42:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-18T15:44:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gianna-Bryant-Kobe-Bryant.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Sports7J\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/\",\"name\":\"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again - 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John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"Sports7J\",\"john-moriello-1a11743\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"John Moriello | Sports7 Staff Writer, Producer - Motorsports\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again - Sports7","description":"The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of former NBA great Kobe Bryant, an honorary draft pick.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again","og_description":"The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of former NBA great Kobe Bryant, an honorary draft pick.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_published_time":"2020-04-18T15:42:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-18T15:44:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gianna-Bryant-Kobe-Bryant.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Moriello","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Sports7J","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Moriello","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/","name":"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again - Sports7","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gianna-Bryant-Kobe-Bryant.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-18T15:42:07+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-18T15:44:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/625c659832a23452683545602e055cac"},"description":"The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of former NBA great Kobe Bryant, an honorary draft pick.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gianna-Bryant-Kobe-Bryant.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gianna-Bryant-Kobe-Bryant.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"The WNBA has made the late Gianna Bryant an honorary draft pick. | Allen Berezovsky\/Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/gianna-bryant-has-followed-in-kobe-bryants-footsteps-again\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gianna Bryant Has Followed in Kobe Bryant's Footsteps Again"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/","name":"Sports7","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/625c659832a23452683545602e055cac","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/john-moriello\/","name":"John Moriello","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/John-Moriello-96x96.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/John-Moriello-96x96.jpeg","caption":"John Moriello"},"description":"John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sports7 in 2020. A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.","sameAs":["","Sports7J","john-moriello-1a11743","",""],"jobTitle":"John Moriello | Sports7 Staff Writer, Producer - Motorsports","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1144778,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144763\/revisions\/1144778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1144770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}