Kobe Bryant was obviously a major star in professional basketball but the NBA logo is an iconic part of the NBA brand and trademark. There is no need to change it. To be sure, what happened to Kobe, his daughter and the others who died in the helicopter crash was a brutal tragedy.
While Kobe is high up in the NBA record books, he is more recognized for his play with the Lakers. I’m sure the Lakers will recognize him appropriately. The NBA could name an award after him. However, Kobe, like some other celebrities, had a checkered past. He was once charged with raping a 19 year old girl in Colorado. This criminal charge was dismissed after the victim refused to testify. The girl subsequently settled a civil suit for a reported $2.5 million dollars. (See link)
Most damning to Kobe’s reputation was this admission during the criminal investigation:
Eagle County Sheriff investigators first confronted Bryant with the sexual assault accusation on July 2.
[1] During the July 2003 interview with investigators, Bryant initially told investigators that he did not have sexual intercourse with his accuser, a 19-year-old woman who worked at the hotel where Bryant was staying. When the officers told Bryant that she had taken an exam that yielded physical evidence, such as *****, Bryant admitted to having sexual intercourse with her, but stated that the sex was consensual.
[2] When asked about bruises on the accuser's neck, Bryant admitted to "strangling" her during the encounter, stating that he held her "from the back" "around her neck", that strangling during sex was his "thing" and that he had a pattern of strangling a different sex partner (not his wife) during their recurring sexual encounters. When asked how hard he was holding onto her neck, Bryant stated, "My hands are strong. I don't know." Bryant stated that he assumed consent for sex because of the accuser's body language such as her kissing him, putting her hand on his penis, and bending over, but that he did not explicitly ask for her consent during the encounter. Bryant later said that he believed his accuser was capable of saying no because during the encounter he asked her if he could "*** on her face", and she said no.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant_sexual_assault_case