John Calipari received a special package in the mail on Monday, and he shared its contents with his social media following through an unboxing video online. As you will see, the box is a gift from Vanessa and Natalia Bryant, the wife and eldest daughter of the late Kobe Bryant, in memory of Gigi Bryant, Kobe and Vanessa’s middle daughter and Natalia’s younger sister. Nicknamed “Mambacita” after her father, Gigi tragically passed away with Kobe in 2020, and today, May 1, would have been her seventeenth birthday.
The gift to Calipari in Gigi’s memory included a birthday note, a pair of Mambacita Kobe 4s, a Gigi Bryant jersey, and Kobe Bryant’s book, “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.