Thursday's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets is one of the biggest games of the season for the purple and gold. Any match-up against Nikola Jokic and the defending NBA Champions is a big deal, but Thursday's game has added weight.
The Lakers are unveiling Kobe Bryant's memorial statue on Thursday ahead of the team's game against the Nuggets. Kobe, who is the greatest Laker of all time to many, was always going to get a statue, it was just a matter of when not if. The Lake Show chose the most fitting date possible, as February 8, 2024 honors both Kobe and his daughter Gianna with the numbers 2/8/24.
That is not the only way that the Lakers are honoring Kobe on Thursday. In addition to the fitting date and the statue ceremony itself, the Lakers will also be bringing back the best uniforms the team has ever worn just for Thursday night: the Black Mamba uniforms.
The Lakers will wear Black Mamba uniforms in honor of Kobe Bryant on Feb. 8 vs. the Nuggets 🐍
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 6, 2024
The team will also unveil a statue of Bryant prior to the game. pic.twitter.com/nV3g1J3tRS
Lakers wearing Black Mamba uniforms to honor Kobe Bryant vs Nuggets
There have been a lot of great uniforms throughout the history of the Los Angeles Lakers and some creative alternates, especially in the last few years. As iconic as the purple and gold is, nothing in the history of the franchise touches the Black Mamba uniforms.
The team first wore the uniforms during the 2017-18 season as they were the first-ever city edition uniforms made for LA. While there have been some other solid city edition uniforms, nothing has touched the Black Mamba uniforms since.
Unlike any of the other city edition uniforms, the Lakers brought the uniform back in 2020 during the NBA Playoffs. The Lake Show wore a version of the uniforms during the 2020 NBA Playoffs to honor Kobe and Gianna Bryant and those uniforms became a key staple of that year's title run.
The Nuggets specifically got an up-close look at the Black Mamba Uniforms during the 2020 Western Conference Finals. In fact, these were the uniforms that the Lakers were wearing when Anthony Davis drained his game-winning three against Denver in Game 2 of that series. Davis, fittingly, yelled Kobe like all of us growing up after making what is still the biggest shot of his career.
Thursday is all about honoring Kobe Bryant. With the statue, the date, and the uniforms there is only one more thing the Lakers can do to truly honor his legacy: go win the game.