{"id":1797,"date":"2022-02-20T21:43:03","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T21:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/?p=1797"},"modified":"2022-03-31T03:06:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T03:06:25","slug":"chris-paul-to-receive-kobe-gigi-bryant-advocacy-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/20\/chris-paul-to-receive-kobe-gigi-bryant-advocacy-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Paul to receive Kobe & Gigi Bryant Advocacy Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The WNBA announced that Phoenix Suns\u2019 12-time All-Star guard Chris Paul has been named the inaugural recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award for his significant contributions to the advancement of girls\u2019 and women\u2019s basketball, and advocacy for the WNBA.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WNBA and Vanessa Bryant will present Paul the award at NBA All-Star 2022 in Cleveland during Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual award honors the late Kobe Bryant, a devoted supporter of the WNBA and women\u2019s basketball, and his daughter Gianna (also known as Gigi).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gigi, a happy, loving and competitive young lady, wanted to pursue her dreams of one day playing in the WNBA and continuing her father’s legacy while elevating women in sports. Gigi loved the game of basketball and aspired to reach the pinnacle of the sport like her father.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kobe Bryant contributed to the growth of the women\u2019s game at every level through forging relationships, mentoring and training high school, college, NBA and WNBA players, coaching Gigi\u2019s youth basketball team, and launching the Mamba Sports Academy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also was involved with empowering girls through Her Time to Play<\/a>, an initiative created by the WNBA and NBA dedicated to championing participation in athletics on behalf of girls and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kobe and Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy award aims to honor advocates and influencers who use their time, talent, and platform to raise awareness for the WNBA, and women\u2019s and girls\u2019 basketball in various ways, like Kobe was so committed to doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have seen first-hand Chris\u2019 appreciation of the WNBA and the game at every level for women and girls, especially in Phoenix and North Carolina, and his ardent support of our game strongly reflects the legacy of Kobe and Gigi,\u201d said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe league is proud to name Chris as the inaugural recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award, as he serves as a leader and role model for other professional athletes around growing the future of the game for young girls and all fans,” she continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A devoted fan of the WNBA and the Phoenix Mercury, Chris Paul has consistently demonstrated a unique level of support, attending games throughout the regular season and playoffs while also using his public platforms to highlight the on-court successes and stories of WNBA players as well as their leadership in the community through their fight for social justice.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During WNBA tentpole events such as WNBA Draft and All-Star, he can be found showing his support for rookies entering the league and WNBA veterans.  He also supports the youth girls\u2019 game through camps and the CP3 Basketball Academy, with a mission of using basketball to enhance young athletes\u2019 aspirations, disciplines and life skills.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the start of the WNBA\u2019s historic 25th<\/sup> season, Paul was among several NBA stars that donned a WNBA player\u2019s jersey to amplify the historic significance of the moment. Additionally, Paul teamed up with Suns center Deandre Ayton to support the Mercury\u2019s recent WNBA Finals playoff run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Familiar faces at WNBA and NBA games, Kobe popularized the WNBA\u2019s orange hoodie<\/a> when he wore it alongside Gigi at the Mavericks-Lakers game they attended together in December 2019.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only marking an iconic moment of a \u201cGirl Dad\u201d supporting his daughter and her WNBA aspirations but helping to make the hoodie the best ever-selling merchandise item of the WNBA.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe orange hoodie became a symbol of support for women\u2019s basketball and working women in professional sports and the determination and dedication of the W players,\u201d said Engelbert. Chris Paul has also worn the WNBA orange hoodie on several occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award highlights Kobe\u2019s legacy as a coach and mentor and Gigi\u2019s inspirational, relentless commitment to playing at the highest levels of the game.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WNBA will make a donation to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a positive impact for underserved athletes and boys & girls in sports founded through the vision and loving memory of Kobe and Gigi Bryant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Paul has been named the inaugural recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award for his contributions to the advancement of girls\u2019 and women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wnba"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/CP3_scaled.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}