Somebody should have run the Kobe Bryant statue through spell check.
Several errors, including the misspelling of Jose Calderon’s and Von Wafer’s names in a replica box score on the statue, went viral on Monday after a basketball journalist from Germany posted them on social media.
The statue honoring the late Lakers’ great was unveiled in February outside Crypto.com Arena and has been a place where fans have congregated since.
The errors involving Calderon and Wafer’s names were part of a replica box score engraved on one side of the statue to honor Bryant’s 81-point game against the Raptors.
Wafer’s first name is spelled “Vom” instead of “Von” and next to it, the word decision is spelled incorrectly.
Calderon’s last name is also misspelled as “Calderson.”
There had been a formatting error on another side of the base where Bryant’s accomplishments across his career had been listed.
“We have been aware of this for a few weeks and are already working to get it corrected soon,” a Lakers spokesperson told ESPN.
The 19-foot, 4,000-pound statue was revealed on Feb. 8 in a moving ceremony to honor Bryant, who died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna and seven others.
The statue is the first of three that will be erected in Bryant’s honor with the other two’s locations and unveiling dates still to be determined.
One of the statues will be of Bryant in his No. 24 uniform and the other with his Gianna.
In a speech at the ceremony, his wife Vanessa Bryant said that the NBA superstar had been the one to select the pose for the statue, “So if anyone has a problem with it, tough s–t.”
Phil Jackson, Stu Lantz, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Derek Fisher and Lakers owner Jeanie Buss were all on hand for the February ceremony.
