The Kobe Bryant statue has typos. Lakers say they will be fixed

It’s a good thing that Kobe Bryant is getting three statues built.

The first one immortalizing the Lakers legend was unveiled last month outside Crypto.com Arena and it has three glaring typos.

The 19-foot statue honoring Bryant’s 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in 2006 — with him pointing a finger in the sky — has fans now pointing toward the base of the statue. That’s where the game’s box score has the names of two players — Raptors guard Jose Calderon and Lakers guard Von Wafer — and the word “decision” misspelled.

The Lakers are planning to fix the mistakes on the statue sculpted by Julie Rotblatt Amrany.

“We have been aware of this for a few weeks and are already working to get it corrected soon,” a Lakers spokesperson said in a statement.

The box score on Kobe Bryant’s statue has Lakers guard Von Wafer’s first name misspelled as “Vom,” and to the right of his name the word decision is misspelled as “decicion.”

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Calderon’s last name is misspelled as “Calderson” on the statue, and Wafer’s first name is written as “Vom.” Wafer, whose actual name is Vakeaton Quamar Wafer, was a rookie for the Lakers during the 2005-06 season and the box score shows that he did not play due to a coach’s “decicion.”

Calderon, who was also rookie that season, went on to play for the Lakers during the 2016-17 season, a year after Bryant retired after 20 seasons with Los Angeles.

Almost four years after leaving the NBA, Bryant died with eight others in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, in Calabasas.

The Lakers announced in February of this year that Bryant would get two more statues, one with him in a No. 24 jersey, which he wore in his last 10 seasons, and the other will be of him and his daughter, Gianna, who was also killed in the helicopter crash.