Kobe Bryant spent half his career wearing jersey No. 8 and the other half wearing No. 24. Alex Ovechkin is pretty familiar with No. 8, so he switched things up Wednesday.
Ahead of the Washington Capitals’ home game against the Nashville Predators, Ovechkin wore a custom No. 24 Capitals jersey during warmups to honor Bryant, who died Sunday along with his daughter and seven other people in a helicopter crash.
After the game, Ovechkin will sign the jersey and the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation will put it up for auction at a later date.
Ovechkin met Bryant several times, and the two were on apparently friendly terms. Reporters in Montreal Sunday said Ovechkin was emotional after the Capitals held a practice there shortly after the news of Bryant’s death broke.
“He always treated me well when he saw me,” Ovechkin remembered. “It’s hard. He was a legend in the basketball world, and in the whole world. It’s tough. I still can’t believe it.”
Alex Ovechkin wearing Kobe’s number 24 in the warm-up for the @Capitals tonight. He will sign it and auction it off for charity. pic.twitter.com/SPAk0mxDu9
— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) January 30, 2020
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 30, 2020
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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