Caitlin Clark was seen sharing a warm moment with Kobe Bryant’s family at halftime of tonight’s WNBA All-Star Game.
Vanessa Bryant, the widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, and their three daughters watch from the court at the Footprint Center as players including Clark and Angel Reese take part in the annual women’s basketball showcase.
Four years after the tragic helicopter crash that killed him and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, Kobe is survived by Vanessa, 42, and their children Natalia, 21, Bianka, seven, and Capri, five.
All four members of her immediate family decided to take advantage of the action in Phoenix, where USA Basketball is taking on the WNBA team.
At halftime of Saturday’s game, Clark (this year’s No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft) approached the Bryant family and could be seen sharing a warm moment with Vanessa and her daughters.
Kobe Bryant’s family has the best seats in the house for tonight’s WNBA All-Star Game
Rookie sensations Clark and Reese will team up on the WNBA roster tonight, putting aside their bitter rivalry to take on the U.S. Olympic stars.
A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Diana Taurasi are the superstar names on the other side of the All-Star Game.
Kobe, widely considered one of the greatest NBA players of all time, had been with his wife Vanessa for two decades at the time of his passing.
The couple began dating in 1999, when they met on the set of her music video.
They eventually got engaged shortly after Vanessa turned 18, before marrying in 2001.
Kobe and his daughter Gianna were killed along with seven others when their helicopter went down in Calabasas, California, in January 2020.
They had flown out of John Wayne Airport near their home in Newport Beach and were headed to Thousand Oaks, to Bryant’s Mamba Basketball Academy, when they crashed into a hillside.
The Bryant family shared a warm moment with Caitlin Clark at halftime of Saturday’s game.
Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna (top left), died in a helicopter crash in 2020
Earlier this week, Vanessa appeared to address rumors of her husband’s feud with his parents while sending her condolences following the death of Kobe’s father.
The basketball world was in mourning after Kobe’s father, Joe Bryant, tragically passed away at the age of 69 following a recent stroke.
Following the death of her father-in-law, Vanessa took to Instagram to pay her respects on Tuesday afternoon, though she also appeared to express her sorrow over her husband’s split with Joe and his mother Pam.
“We send our condolences upon learning of the passing of my father-in-law,” he wrote.
“We hoped things would have been different. Even though we spent very little time together, he was always sweet and nice. Kobe loved him very much. Our prayers are with the family.”
Kobe, widely considered one of the greatest NBA players of all time, had been with his wife Vanessa for two decades at the time of his passing.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Joe’s relationship with his son Kobe became strained as the Lakers legend built a Hall of Fame NBA career.
She has never spoken publicly about her son’s death, and earlier this year, the 2000 NBA title ring Kobe gave her sold for $927,000 at auction.
In 2016, Kobe revealed that he hadn’t spoken to his parents in nearly three years after they attempted to auction off his high school memorabilia, without consent.