The desire to spotlight women’s basketball for his daughter ended up impacting more lives than Kobe Bryant would have thought. The Black Mamba, proudly known as the Girl Dad, became quite invested in the women’s basketball scenario following his retirement, courtesy of Gigi. The fruits of it, Hailey Van Lith proudly highlights following the USA 3×3 women’s basketball bronze medal game at Paris.

In a clip shared by FIBA 3×3, Hailey Van Lith stated, “I think Kobe would be proud as heck of me for not letting us lose that last game… It was a tough situation for us to win it & we didn’t soak in it. That’s the Kobe mentality.” Notably, the 22-year-old’s connection with Kobe Bryant and Gigi dates back to her high school basketball days. Even before winning the medal, Van Lith had stated she is continuously inspired by the 5x NBA champ’s work ethic.

Now some X users argued that the Mamba mentality would not settle anything for less than gold. But the kind of comeback Team USA had in 3×3 basketball would not have been possible without a certain level of mental toughness. Notably, although Team USA was the defending champion in women’s 3×3 basketball, it was a different roster. The roster for the 2024 Olympics had a terrible start to the event facing losses in the first 3 games.

But even after a 0-3 setback, Team USA did an unexpected 6-1 comeback, securing a medal for themselves. “So going from 0-3 to a bronze medal, I’m very proud of us and we fought through a lot of stuff,” Van Lith said, stating that her team was not always the one with most preparation but they sure were tough enough.

The 22-year-old scored 6 of the 16 points for her team in the bronze medal game against Canada.

Hailey Van Lith’s Kobe Bryant’s radar since high school

Not only did Lith know Kobe and Gigi from her high school days, but also trained with the father-daughter duo. In an LA Times article, Hailey detailed how it started with a text from one of Kobe’s main guys. “I called him ‘T’. And he just basically said that Kobe knew about me, loved my game and really wanted to get me to L.A. to work with him and talk about basketball,” she said, as per the LA Times article.

The budding basketball star’s work ethic and on-court mentality reportedly impressed the Black mamba. Speaking of her playing sessions with Gigi, Lith stated Gianna was shy and reserved outside the game. But she had her father-like killer instinct on the court. “She didn’t care that I was supposed to be better than her, taller and older. She just played with everything she had, and that was something cool to see,” Lith said.

However, the most surprising moment for the 3×3 basketball star was when Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter, paid a visit to one of her games in Washington. And that move affirmed Lith’s opinion that the Black Mamba was super serious about advocating for girl’s basketball. And the 21-year-old seems to have carried the 5x NBA champ’s values as motivation ever since.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger