It is no secret that Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant spent some of his early years in Italy, with his father Joe “Jellybean” Bryant moving their family there to play basketball. With that said, it's no surprise why the NBA great is held in high regard in the country.
On Thursday, AMG Sebastiani Rieti — the first club Joe played for – -raised Kobe's No. 24 Lakers jersey to the rafters following his death in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26 in Calabasas, California.
To recall, Joe Bryant was a former first-round pick in the 1975 NBA Draft, but his basketball career would eventually take him to Europe. The elder Bryant played seven seasons in the A1 League and Italian A2 League.
Of course, Kobe's love for the game blossomed in Italy, where he starred for a number of youth teams before the family moved back to the United States in 1991.
Claudio Lavanga of NBC wrote a piece about Bryant's upbringing in Italy in which one of his friends and former teammates said Kobe “never lost touch” with childhood friends. The former Lakers superstar also visited in 2016 for a sponsored event.
In many ways, Kobe Bryant was one of Italy's own. Now, he is forever immortalized with AMG Sebastiani Rieti.
–
Follow ClutchPoints on Twitter & Instagram, and like us on Facebook. We can also be found on Flipboard where you can subscribe and follow us.
All of our NBA content can be found on the NBA section of the ClutchPoints home page here. For all of our college basketball content, click here.
Follow NBA games live by downloading the ClutchPoints App and heading to the scores tab under the NBA section.
You can listen and subscribe to the Battle for LA podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. You can also find new episodes of Battle for LA, the ClutchPoints NBA Podcast, and Establish the Pass under the Podcast tab on the ClutchPoints home page.