Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and seven others died after a helicopter crashed into a hillside northwest of Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020.
Basketball Hall of Famer and current coach for Ice Cube’s Big3 League, Nancy Lieberman, developed a friendship over the years. Just two days before Bryant’s untimely passing, he sent Lieberman a series of text messages about the importance of uplifting women’s sports.
Bryant was always a staunch advocate for women’s sports. As his prolific NBA career came to a close and his daughter Gianna “Gigi” Bryant took an interest in basketball, his support seemed to only grow.
Lieberman joined former NBA coach Mark Jackson’s podcast “The Mark Jackson Show” and opened up about the text exchange she had with Bryant on Jan. 24, 2024.
Lieberman said she initially sent Bryant a text message after she had a disagreement with her then-co-workers.
“Kobe, there’s a couple of radicals that I’m working with,” Lieberman said.
“Radicals?” Bryant asked.
“Yeah, men… and they are arguing about what you said to the media the other day.”
“When do you want to talk about it?” the NBA legend replied.
Lieberman went on to explain that her and Bryant engaged in an exchange that lasted for hours just two nights before that fateful day.
She added that she spent a couple of years trying to coordinate a time for Lieberman to work with Gigi’s team.
“Kobe and I had been talking for two years and putting Gigi’s team through practice for a day. And then life got busy, and we’re doing all this stuff…we never did it.” Lieberman said she spoke to Bryant on the phone after midnight on Jan. 26, 2020.
“Saturday night after midnight, Kobe calls me because he’s chop chop. I’m like, ‘Hey, Kobe, yeah, how you doing?’ He goes ‘OK, details …You’ll fly in, you’ll Uber to the house, we’ll grab some food, we’ll hop on the helicopter, you go to the Mamba, you have as long as you want with Gigi and her team.’ So, we had the plan set.”
Bryant was certainly hoping that Lieberman would provide his daughter and her teammates some invaluable basketball knowledge, especially considering her impressive résumé.
She began playing in the WNBA during the league’s inaugural season in 1997. She went on to coach the former WNBA team Detroit Shock and an NBA G League franchise. She also worked as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings.
Fellow NBA icon Michael Jordan also previously shared his final text exchange with Bryant.
In Aug. 2021, Jordan told ESPN that he kept the last messages he shared with Bryant. He also said Bryant was in a happy place in what would be the final weeks of his exceptional life.
“He was just so happy,” Jordan said of Bryant’s emotional state in the weeks before the tragic accident. “He was doing so well.”
“This tequila is awesome,” Bryant wrote in a text in reference to Jordan’s Cincoro Tequila. The Lakers great had received a bottle of the tequila.
“Thank you, my brother,” Jordan responded.
“Yes, sir. Family good?” Bryant replied.
“All good. Yours?”
“All good.”
Jordan then asked Bryant about the latest in his coaching efforts with Gigi.
“Happy holidays,” Jordan wrote. “and hope to catch up soon. Coach Kobe??!”
“Hey, coach, I’m sitting on the bench right now, and we’re blowing this team out. 45-8,” Bryant texted.
