Vanessa Bryant Confirms Celebration of Life for Kobe & Gianna, Plus: New Details About the Memorial

Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa has confirmed a celebration of life for the late NBA star and their daughter Gianna.

Vanessa posted an announcement on Instagram, confirming the event will take place on February 24, 2020, at Staples Center.

The date could hold special meaning, as 2 was Gianna's jersey number at Harbor Day School and 24 was her dad's number while playing for the L.A. Lakers.

While the L.A. Times had previously reported the date and location, Vanessa included that the event will take place at 10 a.m. TMZ says the morning service is likely due to a Clippers game that evening. The site also reports several high-profile people will speak at the tribute, but the list has not been finalized.

Vanessa's message also indicated “details to come,” which could include how fans can obtain tickets to the memorial.

There was early speculation that the event may take place at the larger L.A. Coliseum, which seats nearly 80,000, but Staples Center was Kobe's home with the Lakers for 20 seasons. The smaller venue seats 20,000.

Staples has also been home to a makeshift memorial to Kobe and Gianna. When the venue began cleaning up the site, Vanessa reached out, asking that the keepsakes be sent to her.

Lee Zeidman, Staples Center president, told The Times, "Vanessa had reached out to us and said, 'Our family would like the items out there.' So we're going to catalog every one of them. By that I mean, T-shirts, letters, basketballs, stuffed animals, toys. We're going to put those in specially made containers and we're going to ship them to the family."