Isai RochaThe National Basketball Association (NBA) unveiled a slew of new trophies for its annual all-start weekend, highlighted by the MVP trophy honoring the late Kobe Bryant.
The Kobe Bryant Trophy will be awarded to the player who gets voted the as the most valuable during the February 20 NBA All-Star game in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Photo courtesy of the NBA)
“Redesigning the All-Star trophies gave us a special opportunity to create event awards worthy of the energy and excitement the moment creates, while introducing the full collection’s visual, aesthetic language,” the trophy’s designer Victor Solomon said in a statement. “The occasion also gave us the privilege and responsibility to develop an entirely new silhouette worthy of being named ‘The Kobe Bryant Trophy’ for the Kia NBA All-Star MVP for which, in the spirit of its namesake, we threw out all conventions and challenged ourselves to reorient how we thought about ‘the game.”
The trophy has little nods to Bryant throughout, with the base showing 24 stars represent Kobe’s No. 24 jersey number.
The next layer contains 10 stars that represent Kobe’s No. 10 jersey, worn when representing the U.S. in international play such as the Olympics. The following layer from the bottom up, contains five stars representing Kobe’s five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.The top and smaller layer, contains a single star representing Kobe’s NBA MVP Award in the 2007-08 season.
“I love everything this trophy represents, all of my husband’s hard work and dedication ~ Mamba Mentality ???? Thank you @NBA & @victorsolomon,” Bryant’s widow Vanessa Bryant said in an Instagram post.
The award itself was re-named the Kia NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award in 2020, just weeks after Bryant’s fatal helicopter crash on January 26. Now the trophy will match the award.
New trophies were also introduced for the other events that take place during NBA All-Star weekend, including the 3-point contest, dunk contest and skills challenge.
