Chadwick Boseman Remembers Kobe Bryant at NBA All-Star Weekend

The death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant is one that continues to have a major impact, with colleagues, fans, and celebrities all continuing to honor the basketball superstar who died along with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a tragic helicopter crash in January. Last week, Bryant was honored at the 92nd Academy Awards both during the ceremony’s In Memoriam as well as by filmmakers Spike Lee, who came to the ceremony dressed in a Lakers-inspired tuxedo, and Matthew Cherry, who dedicated his own Oscar win for Hair Love to Bryant. Now, Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman and others are honoring Bryant as part of NBA All-Star Weekend.

In a video shared by the official NBA on TNT Twitter, Boseman and others appear in a project created by sports commentator Kenny Smith to honor Bryant. As the video explains, Smith decided to recreate many of the iconic photographs of Bryant using various celebrities to celebrate Bryant’s life, legacy, and the impact he continues to have over people from various industries and walks of life.

“Your life has meant so much to so many people. I can’t even put into words how much cause I didn’t even know; I didn’t know how much it meant. I knew I loved Kobe, but I didn’t know I loved him as much as I did,” Boseman says in the tribute.

In addition to Bryant’s legacy on the court, the superstar had been branching out with other pursuits since retiring from the NBA. In 2018 at the 90th Academy Awards, Bryant won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball and, according to The Proud Family creator Bruce W. Smith, Bryant was interested in getting even more involved with animated projects prior to his death. During a recent conversation on Double Toasted, Smith revealed that he and Klaus director Sergio Pablos had recently had dinner with Bryant to talk about animation, animated projects, and the possibility of opening up his own animation studio.

“The last time Sergio and I got together about a month ago, Sergio and I were having dinner with Kobe Bryant,” Smith said. “So Kobe is heavily invested, at the time, was heavily invested in starting an animation studio. So for the past six months or so Kobe and I have been in deep talks about making that happen … so we’re together finding artists to galvanize his dream and Kobe was, like they were saying, Kobe was beginning his second act and animation was going to play a huge part in that.”

For Smith, Bryant’s death is still something that he’s struggling to grasp.

“It is still completely unbelievable,” Smith said. “It’s still completely unbelievable, like I still have not completely wrapped my head around the fact that Kobe’s not here. I still haven’t grasped that.”

Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images