Kobe Bryant HOF basketball will be available soon

Residents wait for a bus with a mural of Kobe Bryant painted on the wall behind them in Koreatown. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Limited edition Kobe Bryant Hall of Fame basketball to be available soon

Originally posted on Sportress of Blogitude
By Jason Rowan | Last updated 12/17/20

A limited edition Kobe Bryant basketball will soon be available for purchase in honor of the late Los Angeles Lakers legend’s upcoming induction into the Hall of Fame.

With an opening sale date of Dec. 21 — a nod to the birth date of the game of basketball in 1891 in Springfield, Mass. — the “Kobe: Hall of Fame” ball will be sold exclusively to “MVP Members” through the Spalding app.

18 All-Star nominations, five Larry O’Brien Trophies, two NBA Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP & a legacy that will inspire anyone who picks up a basketball for generations to come. The Kobe ‘Hall of Fame’ releases 12/21 in the Spalding app.

Details: https://t.co/zSU9FfMWfx pic.twitter.com/JM5SgqT51U
— Spalding (@Spalding) December 16, 2020

Spalding received input on the basketball’s design by Bryant himself before his tragic death along with daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., on Jan. 26.

In honor of the No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys Bryant wore during his iconic NBA career, 2,408 Hall of Fame balls will be available for purchase globally, with 824 reserved solely for memorabilia collectors in the U.S.

The two-tone, channel-less design is the first in Spalding’s history, per SLAM, and features an exclusive snakeskin composite cover, presumably in tribute to Kobe’s “Black Mamba” moniker.

The display box, meanwhile, features Bryant’s signature and notes his 18 All-Star nominations, five titles, two NBA Finals MVP Awards and lone regular-season MVP nod.

The “Kobe: Hall of Fame” basketball retails for $299, and Spalding will begin accepting orders on its app on Dec. 21 at 10 a.m. ET.

Bryant will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in May 2021 after the original ceremony scheduled for August was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This article first appeared on Sportress of Blogitude and was syndicated with permission.

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