Artist Victor Solomon had an overwhelming task: redesign the Kobe Bryant NBA All-Star MVP Award trophy.
“It was impossibly daunting,” Solomon told USA TODAY Sports. “I live here in L.A. and Kobe’s impact I feel every day, and that would be a lot of pressure. The stakes were really high because of that and honoring his legacy and his history with the All-Star Game and the league at large. But you do what you do to tell the story that you feel will honor that legacy.”
With the idea of storytelling prominent in his mind, Solomon began sketching ideas.
“It starts with a little chicken scratch in my notebook and it works its way from there,” he said. “The processes is very organic continuing in that kind of hippie energy, and as the process evolves, it will speak to you and what it needs and validate how it feels.”
The result: a Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP Award that is rich with symbolism and honors Bryant’s NBA legacy, including his All-Star bona fides.
— The eight-sided base acknowledges…