Lakers To Wear Black Mamba Jerseys In Hopeful Title Clincher

The wife of Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant, Vanessa Bryant announced on her Instagram that the Lakers would be wearing their Black Mamba jerseys for game five of the NBA Finals. “Mamba and Mambacita jerseys approved for game 5,” Vanessa Bryant wrote in an Instagram story Wednesday night. “Let’s go @lakers.” These jerseys were created to honor Bryant who died earlier this year in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna Bryant and many other passengers.

With the Lakers up 3-1 in the NBA Finals over the Miami Heat, they hope that game five Friday night will be their chance to close out the series and honor the memory of Bryant, a five-time champion during his stint with the Lakers. “Obviously, we’re representing him,” Anthony Davis said. “Especially in those jerseys. It’s his jersey, one he created, and any time we put it on, we want to win.” The Lakers’ Black Mamba uniform features a snakeskin print and drop shadows on the numbers, a flashback to a detail from the Lakers uniforms when Bryant was a rookie in 1996-97.