Lakers Acknowledge Typos on Kobe Bryant Statue Outside Crypto.com Arena

The Kobe Bryant statue will be receiving some much-needed fixes.
Lakers Acknowledge Typos on Kobe Bryant Statue Outside Crypto.com Arena
Lakers Acknowledge Typos on Kobe Bryant Statue Outside Crypto.com Arena /
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One month after the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled their Kobe Bryant statue to honor the late NBA legend, the new landmark apparently has more than a few egregious man-made errors.

On Monday, German basketball journalist André Voigt posted a series of viral photos that showed at least three typos in the box score etched into the marble base of the statue.

Former Laker Von Wafer’s and former Toronto Raptors guard José Calderón’s names are misspelled as “Vom Wafer” and “Jose Calderson.” Those two players were included in the box score of Bryant’s historic 81-point game against Toronto in January 2006. In addition, the word “decision” in “Coach’s Decision” is misspelled as “decicion.”

“We have been aware of this for a few weeks and are already working to get it corrected soon,” a Lakers spokesperson said in a statement. 

The Kobe Bryant statue, designed by Omri Amrany and Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, was unveiled on Feb. 8 outside Crypto.com Arena. The 19-foot bronze sculpture immortalized Bryant’s iconic pose during his 81-point performance and is surrounded by five NBA championship trophies.

Two more statues have been commissioned to honor Bryant: one showing the Lakers great wearing No. 24 and one featuring him and his late daughter, Gianna.


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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.