Via Medium, a reminder of Kobe Bryant’s posthumous assist to women’s basketball:

Bryant’s post-death assist to the WNBA began when the five-time NBA champion met with league commissioner Kathy Engelbert in 2019.

They talked about the future of the WNBA and Kobe wanted to know how he could support the league with his daughter a possible future star.

As Kobe left, Eb Jones, then the WNBA’s head of content and influencer strategy, handed the NBA legend three bags full of league merch.

One bag for himself with the orange hoodie and gear. A bag for Gianna, nicknamed Gigi, and a bag for his newly-born daughter, Capri, with baby gear like a “Future GOAT” onesie.

Jones knew Gianna would love the gear and wear it. But Kobe? Didn’t he have a personal stylist to hand-pick his outfits? she mused to herself.

It was a Hail Mary prayer he would wear it.

Jones chose the orange hoodie as the league’s signature piece, although she’d doubted her choice since the WNBA plays in the summer.

A hoodie in summer?

Still, it just felt right.

A hoodie looks good on everybody. The bright orange color popped and was gender neutral.

Jones was on vacation in Sydney, Australia, when her phone started buzzing incessantly.

Friends shared that Kobe wore the orange hoodie while sitting court-side with Gianna at a Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Lakers game. The photo of Bryant and his daughter on Dec. 29, 2019, at Crypto Arena is the last one of them at a game.

Four weeks later, Bryant, Gianna, and seven others died in the crash, and not long after, sales of the WNBA orange hoodies spiked at Fanatics, a sports fan apparel online retailer.

The New York Knicks donned the hoodie on International Women’s Day to honor women.

Jones became known as the Bag Lady, passing out the hoodies at the 2020 NBA All-Star game.

In partnership with ESPN, the WNBA sent out orange hoodies to celebrities, influencers, NBA and WNBA teams, and professional athletes to promote the start of the 2020–21 WNBA season.

Notable male and female hoop stars such as LeBron James, Rebecca Lobo, Damion Lillard, A.J. Wilson, Chris Paul, Naomi Osaka, Devon Booker, and Jayson Tatum all shared photos in orange hoodies on their social media accounts.

Shazam! Fanatics reported the hoodie became the top-selling item across the website for two consecutive days in the last week of July 2020.

The Sports Business Journal gave it “The Fashion Statement of The Year” award in 2020 — and it traces back to Kobe wearing it at an NBA game.

The natural assumption is the orange hoodie blew up because players, male and female, who respected Kobe knew how much he supported women’s basketball and lent their support too.

Hence, the rise of the orange WNBA hoodie was indeed inspired by Kobe in his afterlife.

It’s by far the greatest assist of his career.

The big payoff from the hoodie came in the WNBA’s 2020 season-opening game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury.

It was the most-watched opener since 2012 and viewership for the opening weekend increased 63% compared to an average game a year prior.

Taking a final sip of my cappuccino, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard this story about Bryant.

As a high school English teacher, I’m sort of a teenage influencer — at least in trying to shape students’ minds — so I went home and ordered a double XL orange hoodie online for myself.

I want to support the girls’ basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, and track athletes at my school to show them I care about their sports.

And that their sports matter to a male teacher.

I’ve only been to a handful of girls’ basketball games at my school, but I’ve been impressed and entertained at every game I’ve gone to after being invited by a player in one of my classes.

The girls’ team had only seven players one year, and yet they upset the top-seeded team in their division in the playoffs on a last-second jumper, playing tenacious defense for all four quarters.

I watched them advance to the championship last year by making nine three-point shots and creating turnovers with a trapping defense in a win as exciting as any boys’ game I’ve gone to.

So the girls can definitely “ball” at my school and put a lot of hard work into developing their craft as basketball players just like guy hoopers.