Kobe Bryant’s game-worn 2008 National Basketball Association Finals jersey is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Bryant was a well-known supporter of the museum, donating at least a million dollars andurging people to gowhen the museum first opened in 2016. The 41-year-old legend died in a helicopter crash back in the end of January.
After Bryant’s death, Smithsonian employees started noticing people were using the NMAAHC as a memorial, says Damion Thomas, the museum’s sports curator.
People used “the picture we have of him in the museum as a place to grieve, as a place to commemorate within the sports gallery,” says Thomas.
His way of playing basketball — his so-called“Mamba Mentality” — has impacted a generation of young fans. “I think it resonates with a lot of people, particularly younger people, who were told, much like Kobe, ‘wait your turn, don’t be so aggressive, play within the rules,’ ” says Thomas. “Kobe Bryant was always striving to be his best, no matter the cost.”
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