Former Raptor Jose Calderon’s Name Misspelled On Kobe Bryant’s Statue

Originally posted on Raptors Nation | By Matthew Valento | Last updated 3/13/24

The Toronto Raptors were cemented into the history books on Jan. 22, 2006.

This was the date of the late, great Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance against Toronto. The second highest scoring output in league history behind Wilt Chamberlain, who dropped 100 points.

When Bryant retired, the Los Angeles Lakers were obviously going to honor his legacy with a statue. That only increased due to his untimely passing, as this statue would become a memoriam.

Feb. 8 was the first of four statues to be revealed in front of Crypto.com Arena.

L.A. hosted a ceremony to honor the unveiling featuring former teammates, coaches and legends associated with the Lakers.

Unfortunately, German basketball journalism Andre Voigt pointed out typos on the statue, one being the misspelling former Raptor Jose Calderon’s name:

Hm … Kobes Statue mit drei Fehlern? CalderSon, VoM Wafer, DeciCion? What? pic.twitter.com/5ea6zWuXJ7

— André „Dré“ Voigt (@drevoigt) March 10, 2024

Calderon was spelled “Calderson” on the statue along with former Laker Von Wafer being transcribed “Vom” and coach’s decision being spelled “decicion.” It is unclear how these three errors could have been made especially due to how much this statue meant to the community and the Bryant family.

For an organization that takes pride in taking care of star players, this is not a great look. As this statue was focused on encapsulating a monumental moment in Bryant’s career, something as simple as spelling seemed to be overlooked.

This certainly had to be a prolonged process, months or years worth of planning of production. While it did not feature of misspellings pertaining to Bryant, it still is not a great look due to what the legend meant to the city of Los Angeles.

A Lakers spokesperson put out a statement acknowledging the errors and the fixes are expected to happen in the near future.

Toronto dead last in CBS Sports latest NBA Power Rankings

Fast forward, now the Raptors are embarking on a rebuild. The tank is on as Toronto looks to keep its first-round pick this year.

Losing four games in a row and six of their last seven games, the Raptors looked poised to keep the pick. CBS Sports went as far to rank Toronto dead last in their latest power rankings.

This article first appeared on Raptors Nation and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: