The death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna sent shockwaves around the world on Sunday, and final pictures taken of the two before their tragic deaths, have now been making rounds on the internet.
A day prior to the helicopter crash that killed the father-daughter duo along with seven others, Kobe, 41 and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, better known as Gigi, had been photographed at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks.
The photos of the two had been taken less than 24 hours before the two breathed their last.
Kobe and Gigi had been at the academy where the aspiring basketball player had been engrossed in her back-to-back eighth grade basketball game, all the while her father proudly watched over her from courtside.
One particular heartfelt photo has caught the attention of fans as it showed Kobe getting up from his seat to high-five his daughter.
Gigi had wished to follow in her father’s footsteps and reach excellence in the sport in which Kobe was regarded as an undisputed icon.
An earlier interview of the basketball ace with Jimmy Kimmel has been making rounds online ever since the two passed away. During the chat show, Kobe opened up about Gigi’s dream of carrying forward his legacy.
“Fans will come up to me and she’ll be standing next to me, and they’ll say, ‘Hey, you’ve gotta have a [baby] boy! You and [Vanessa Bryant] gotta have a boy to carry on your tradition, the legacy!' [Gianna]’s like, ‘I got this,’ she would tell the fans. [And I said], ‘That’s right! You got it!'”