NBA Kobe Bryant trophies
Source: NBA
The National Basketball Association has redesigned its All-Star Game’s most valuable player trophy to honor the legendary Kobe Bryant, two years after his death.
The NBA had already named the MVP award after the 18-time All-Star, who won a record-tying four MVPs in the annual exhibition game. Bryant, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others, died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
Top NBA players will meet in Cleveland on Feb. 20 for the 2022 All-Star Game. The starters have already been declared, and the reserves will be announced Thursday night.
While the new MVP trophy was revealed for the first time on Thursday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had announced the renaming of the award in Bryant’s honor shortly after his death.
“Kobe Bryant is synonymous with NBA All-Star and embodies the spirit of this global celebration of our game,” Silver said in a February 2020 statement. Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers won the inaugural Kobe Bryant MVP award that year.
In addition to the new MVP prize, the NBA also just unveiled redesigned trophies for the Slam Dunk Contest, Skills Challenge, Rising Stars competition and celebrity game.
The league teamed up with artist Victor Solomon, known for his $30,000 hand-crafted basketball hoops. Solomon told CNBC the new trophy designs were an opportunity to “push myself creatively, and push the envelope of what the team and I could create.”
Kobe Bryant #8 of the Western Conference All Stars talks with Michael Jordan #23 of the Eastern conference All Stars during the 2003 NBA All-Star Game at the Phillips Arena on February 9, 2003 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Andrew D. Bernstein NBAE | Getty Images
A trophy that honors Kobe
Solomon was approached by the NBA in March 2020 about a redesign.
The Kobe Bryant trophy he created has an eight-sided base that serves as a tribute to Bryant’s All-Star appearances and honors his original No. 8 jersey that he started wearing in high school.
It also honors Bryant’s All-Star Game MVP performances, most notably his first in 2002. That year, Bryant scored a game-high 31 points in front of a raucous crowd in Philadelphia, near where Bryant grew up.
The trophy weighs 15 pounds and has four levels for accolades. They pay tribute to his No. 24 Los Angeles Lakers jersey and the No. 10 he wore for Team USA. The trophy also highlights Bryant’s five NBA championships and two NBA MVP awards.
“His presence, innovation and his boldness needed to be represented in the trophy,” Solomon said. “It was very serendipitous that once we started moving down the road in this creative direction for it, there were some really poignant story moments that organically came out of it.”
Solomon’s work was relatively unknown in basketball circles until 2016. That’s when Nike called.
According to a 2018 article in Sports Illustrated, Solomon said Nike requested one of his 24-karat-gold-and-stained-glass basketball hoops to celebrate…
Read More: NBA unveils Kobe Bryant All-Star Game trophy two years after his