Gianna Bryant To Be Selected As Honorary WNBA Draft Pick On Friday

The 2020 WNBA Draft will commence virtually Friday night. And a few very special players will get their names called despite having never even played high school basketball, never mind in college.

Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu surely will be the No. 1 overall pick, but she’ll be sharing the spotlight with someone very close to her.

We won’t get to see the late Gianna Bryant take the women’s game to new heights, via the University of Connecticut and, we’d like to think, the Los Angeles Sparks. But we know she would have changed the sport forever.

Vanessa Bryant, her mother and widow of Kobe Bryant, on Friday announced her daughter, along with teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, will be called as honorary draft picks during the ceremony.

“Honorary Draft Picks:❤️Gianna Bryant❤️ ❤️Alyssa Altobelli and Peyton Chester ❤️class of 2024,” Vanessa captioned an Instagram video of a WNBA draft promotion.

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The three young girls all were teammates coached by Kobe at the Mamba Sports Academy. They tragically passed away in a helicopter accident on the way to a practice in January.

Ionescu had a special relationship with Kobe and Gianna, and it will be a bittersweet night for the entire WNBA community.

More WNBA: 2020 WNBA Draft Live Stream: Watch Rounds 1-3 Online, TV