Kobe Bryantis set to posthumously become a Hall of Famer.
Although the final list of players who will be inducted into the 2020 class of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has yet to be revealed, the late NBA legend — who wasannounced as a nominee in December 2019— will be among the players honored, according to chairman Jerry Colangelo.
“Ironically, I have a meeting in Dallas on Wednesday with the committee to go through the candidates,” he added. “Obviously, the result of whatever names come out of that, he was going to be a first-ballot guy. There’s no doubt in my mind.He’s going to be honored. He’s going into the Hall of Fame.”
Kobe Bryant.Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty
Colangelo also told The Athletic’s Shams Charania that Bryant would be among the class of 2020.
“Expected to be arguably the most epic class ever with Kobe, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett,” he said. “Kobe will be honored the way he should be.”
Finalists will be honored during the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend in February and the list of inductees will be announced in April, during the NCAA’s Final Four tournament.
The induction ceremony is set to take place on Aug. 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Maxx Wolfson/Getty
Shortly before his death, Bryantopened up about his legacy, and how he didn’t feel bothered about his records getting broken.
KnowingLeBron Jameswas just games away fromsurpassing his all-time scoring record— which the current Lakers player achieved on Saturday, one day before Bryant’s death — Bryant told theLos Angeles Timesthat he was “comfortable with the 20 years and moving on,” referencing his two decades playing for the Lakers.
“People tend to misconstrue my competitiveness and that of other athletes as well. They think, they’re competitors, they don’t want the person coming up behind them to pass them or break their records, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
“If you’re playing together on the court, that’s a competition. But when you have done whatever you can do and now you move on from that, you don’t wish bad on other athletes because you’re trying to preserve whatever idea you think people have of your legacy,” he added. “I want to see people do well, I want to see them do better than anything I’ve ever done; that’s just the way it should be.”
source: people.com
