There's an egregious typo of a Raptors legend on Kobe Bryant's statue

Jose Calderon might be one of the most beloved players in Toronto Raptors history, but he’s finding himself in the news for a bit of an awkward reason this week.

Last month, the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled the first of three statues at their Crypto.com Arena to honour the late Kobe Bryant, who passed away in January 2020.

“Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend.” pic.twitter.com/h58OKd7Ll1

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 9, 2024

The statue, which was created by sculptor Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, immortalized Bryant’s 81-point performance against Toronto back on January 22, 2006, which still stands as the second-highest single-game scoring total in NBA history.

Bryant himself made 28 field goals, including seven three-pointers, to outlast Toronto 122-104 in one of the most memorable individual performances in league history.

The statue came complete with a full box score of the game for both teams, meaning a few Toronto players from that era would forever be etched in stone, despite coming out on the wrong side of Bryant’s historic performance.

However, it seems there were a few flaws with the statue as a whole.

German basketball journalist Andre Voigt pointed out a series of typos on the statue itself, including the most egregious one to Toronto fans — Calderon’s name was misspelled as Jose “Calderson.”

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

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

If the sentiment wasn’t already clear, it’s just another reminder that it’s always a good idea to pay your copy editors so you don’t end up in a situation like this.

The 2005-06 Raptors finished with a record of 27-55, a .329 pace over an 82-game season. This year’s team isn’t slated to do all that much better — they’re currently 23-41, a .359 pace.

But given that the most points they’ve allowed an opposing player to score against them in a single game this season is 45, we can hazard a guess this year’s roster will at least avoid being immortalized on any statues anytime soon.

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