LOS ANGELES - Vanessa Bryant, the wife of the late Kobe Bryant, accepted her husband's admission into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday night on his behalf, saying that he's still winning even after he's gone.

"I used to always avoid praising my husband in public because I felt like he got enough praise from his fans around the world and someone had to bring him back to reality," Vanessa Bryant said at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. "Right now, I'm sure he's laughing in heaven because I'm about to praise him in public for his accomplishments on one of the most public stages. I can see him now, arms folded, with a huge grin.

The 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class is one of the most star-studded of all time, led by Bryant and fellow NBA legends Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan -- a trio that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said earlier Saturday is better than any in the history of the institution. "There has not been a better Big Three to go in at the same time," James said.

Still, the focus of the night, and the weekend, was understandably on the man who wasn't there, in the wake of the helicopter crash that killed Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others on Jan. 26, 2020.
Vanessa Bryant's speech, given with Bryant's idol, Michael Jordan, standing next to her as his presenter into the Hall of Fame, focused on her relationship with her husband, as well as his with his children. (ESPN contributed to this report)

Story Date: May 22, 2021