The first of what appears to be three bronze sculptures of Los Angeles Lakers great shooting guard Kobe Bryant intended to decorate the outside of Crypto.com Arena has been unveiled!

This is the exact moment when the statue of Bryant, wearing his signature No. 8 jersey and raising an arm in the air with a finger pointing upward, was unveiled. This is a clip from his legendary 81-point performance against the lowly Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2006, which he celebrated with a postgame walk-off.

His delighted news of two additional babies was announced by his widow, Vanessa, in a poignant speech (more about that later):

Bryant went on to sаy that Kobe chose the first posture for this No. 8 statue years ago, and now he will stand eternally in front of the “House That Kobe Built.”