Amidst all the high adrenaline slam bang play-offs action in the National Basketball Association (NBA) which has seen the top franchises in their respective conferences battle it out for a place in the NBA Conference finals, the basketball fraternity both in America and the globe has been dearly missing NBA and Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant who passed away in a tragic helicopter crash in January early this year.


In a bid to honour one of the greatest ever basketball stars to have ever graced the sport, the street outside the much famed Staples Centre will be renamed after late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles City Council member Herb J. Wesson Jr tweeted.


The Staples Centre has served as the home for the highly succesful LA Lakers team and also has Bryant's nos. 8 and 24 hanging from its rafters since 2017.

Wesson, currently serving as the LA City Council member chose August 24, the perfect day to make the announcement of renaming the Figueroa Street to Kobe Bryant Blvd. August 24 is also celebrated as Kobe Bryant Day in Los Angeles in Orange County.

"Figueroa St. will soon be Kobe Bryant Blvd. between Olympic & MLK. Kob''s legacy is bigger than basketball. #KobeBryantBlvd will be a reminder to everyone, young and old who drive down it, there is no obstacle too big and that with the #Mambamentality, anything is possible," tweeted Wesson.

Earlier in the year, Bryant's induction into the Hall of Fame has been put on hold due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame said that the induction of the class of 2020 will now have to be held in the first quarter of next year.

"We're definitely cancelling," Hall of Fame spokesman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN.

"It's going to have to be the first quarter of next year. (The board will) meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where."

Bryant, who died in January along with eight others in a helicopter crash, was set to be inducted to the Hall of Fame on August 29.

Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett are among other players who are to be inducted alongwith Bryant.