Lakers to Share 20,000 Free Kobe Bryant Jerseys in NBA Game With Blazers

Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Maria-Onore and seven others in a helicopter crash on 26 January in Calabasas, California. Sport fans across the globe are still heartbroken and mourning the devastating loss for the entire international basketball community.
Sputnik

The management of the Los Angeles Lakers is preparing an impressive tribute to Bryant during the team's upcoming NBA regular season game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

All of the stands in Staples Center will be decorated with Bryant jerseys that fans will be able to take with them for free after the game. The Lakers staffers have done a tedious and enormous amount of work to accurately placing 20,000 of the number 8 and number 24 Bryant jerseys around the sits of the arena.
Apart from that, the Lakers will honor the Black Mamba by adding his two jersey numbers to the court design of his home club's arena, where he earned his five NBA Championship rings. The entire rosters of the Lakers and Blazers will wear a special jersey patch with the same design.

As the club's management is expected to see a massive turnout both inside and outside Staples Center, tickets for Friday's game against the Blazers are already skyrocketing in price. The cheapest ticket just to get into the arena hovers at around $800 as of this article's publishing.

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Blazers small forward Carmelo Anthony will skip Friday's road game. According to media reports, Melo still grieves and mourns the loss of his close friend Bryant, with whom he won two Olympic gold medals.

The Lakers were scheduled to face the LA Clippers on Tuesday, but the NBA granted the Lakers' request to postpone the game as the club grieved.

Kobe Bryant is survived by his wife Vanessa Laine Bryant and three daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, an infant.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are currently investigating the cause of the deadly helicopter accident.

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