Vanessa Bryant appeared at the NBA All-Star Game at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Sunday to present veteran player Chris Paul with the first-ever Kobe and Gigi Bryant Advocacy Award.
The WNBA named Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul as the first winner of its Kobe and Gigi Bryant Advocacy Award.
The 12-time All-Star, 36, earned the honor “for his significant contributions to the advancement of girls’ and women’s basketball, and advocacy for the WNBA,” according to a press release from the organization.
Vanessa, 39, donned an all-black ensemble of a long coat, sweater top, pants and pointy-toed boots as she wore her brown locks down and parted at the annual event.
Vanessa – who is mom to daughters Natalia, 19, the late Gigi, 13, Bianka, five, and Capri, two, with the late NBA icon – posed with Paul, 36, his daughter Cameron, nine, and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, 58, on the floor at the venue as the honors were awarded.
Paul, a 12-time All-Star who is on the Phoenix Suns, was honored ‘for his significant contributions to the advancement of girls’ and women’s basketball, and advocacy for the WNBA,’ the WNBA said in a news release.
The honors are aimed at shining a light on those ‘who use their time, talent, and platform to raise awareness for the WNBA, and women’s and girls’ basketball in various ways,’ as the late Kobe Bryant did on multiple fronts.
The award ‘highlights Kobe’s legacy as a coach and mentor and Gigi’s inspirational, relentless commitment to playing at the highest levels of the game,’ the WNBA said.
‘Gigi, a happy, loving and competitive young lady, wanted to pursue her dreams of one day playing in the WNBA and continuing her father’s legacy while elevating women in sports.
‘Gigi loved the game of basketball and aspired to reach the pinnacle of the sport like her father.’
The WNBA credited Kobe’s focus on boosting women’s basketball ‘at every level’ by ‘forging relationships, mentoring and training high school, college, NBA and WNBA players, coaching Gigi’s youth basketball team, and launching the Mamba Sports Academy,’ which the league said it would to donate to.
Paul was honored for the ‘unique level of support‘ he has ‘consistently demonstrated’ for the WNBA and the Phoenix Mercury with his attendance and use of his platforms.
Vanessa took to Instagram earlier on Sunday to thank her NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league for commemorating her late husband Kobe Bryant with a trophy named in his honor.
‘Thank you Adam Silver and the @nba [heart emoji] #TheKobeBryantTrophy ~ All Star Game MVP #1,’ Vanessa wrote in the caption of the shot, which includes multiple shots of the trophy and a letter Silver wrote addressed to her and her daughters.
The redesigned trophy, which the league announced earlier this month, was designed by artist Victor Solomon and features multiple elements paying homage to the late Los Angeles Lakers stalwart, who played for 20 years in the league prior to his retirement in 2016.
It features a base with eight sides, paying homage to Bryant’s former No. 8 jersey; with 18 stars on it to represent the 18 times he was named to the All-Star team. The base is two inches tall as a nod to his All-Star Game MVP award in 2002.