KOBE’S BOOKS SURGING IN POPULARITY
BOOKS created by Kobe Bryant’s content company soared in popularity in the days following the basketball legend’s death in a helicopter crash.
A trio of the books created by Bryant’s Granity Studios will occupy the top 3 spots on the Middle Grade Hardcover portion of The New York Times’ best-seller list for February 16. Epoca: The Tree Of Ecrof will be No. 1 on that list, followed by Legacy And The Queen and The Wizenard: Training Camp.
All three of the books were written for children between the ages of 10 and 14. Bryant, in an interview with The Associated Press in 2018, said his mission for the books was “to combine education and inspiration and build around the concepts of what kids go through when they are playing a sport.”
Another of Bryant’s books, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play has also reached No. 1 on Amazon’s nonfiction sales charts this week. Bryant released that book in 2018, the same year that he won an Academy Award in the best animated short film for his ode to the game called Dear Basketball.
Granity additionally produces a podcast series called “The Punies,” tales about a boy who plays sports with friends. Bryant was also the creator and writer of the “Detail” sports analysis series of programs on ESPN, and Granity has said it will continue as Bryant wanted—“using creative education to inspire people to be the best versions of themselves.”
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed on January 26 when the helicopter they were riding in crashed into a hill in Calabasas, California. The group was on its way to a basketball tournament at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy.
Bryant played 20 seasons in the NBA, all with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning five championships and being selected as an All-Star 18 times.
ITALIAN TEAM RETIRES NO. 24
THE first Italian basketball team that Kobe Bryant’s father played for retired the Lakers superstar’s jersey to the rafters in a pregame ceremony Wednesday in Rieti, Italy.
“You began to play here and as an adult you made us dream. Our colors are with you in the sky,” read a huge banner in Italian that fans of NPC Rieti held up before the game against Scafati in Italy’s second division.
Then a gold Lakers’jersey with Bryant’s No. 24 was lifted to the ceiling of the PalaSojourner arena as a recording of Bryant’s lineup introduction from his NBA playing days was played.
Rieti was where Joe Bryant, Kobe’s father, made his Italian basketball debut in 1984. Kobe was six at the time. Joe went on to play for three other teams in Italy and Kobe grew up in the country until moving back to Pennsylvania for high school.
Kobe Bryant died last month with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, California. He was 41.
At the start of the ceremony, the arena announcer read off the names of all nine victims of the crash. Afterward, two seats were draped with Kobe’s No. 24 and Gianna’s No. 2.