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Vanessa Bryant honors husband Kobe and daughter Gianna with photo

Bryant replaced her Instagram profile picture with a photo of her late husband and daughter.
/ Source: TODAY

Vanessa Bryant is paying tribute to the husband and daughter that were taken from her too soon.

On Wednesday, Bryant changed the profile photo on her Instagram page to a shot of her late husband, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, embracing their daughter Gianna at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto. She also changed her account from private to public.

NBA All-Star Game 2016
Vanessa Bryant honored the memory of her late husband, Kobe Bryant, and late daughter, Gianna, by posting this 2016 photo of them on Instagram.Elsa / Getty Images

Kobe and Gianna died in a tragic helicopter accident in Calabasas, California, on Sunday that also killed seven others. Kobe was 41 and Gianna, whom the family nicknamed Gigi, was just 13. Kobe and Gianna were traveling together to a youth basketball tournament when the crash happened.

The late NBA great and his wife also shared three other daughters: Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and 7-month-old Capri.

In the days since the accident, Kobe has been remembered as much for his devotion to his daughters as his prowess on the basketball court. Everyone from ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor Elle Duncan to "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon has shared stories about how much Bryant loved referring to himself as a "girl dad."

Kobe particularly bonded with Gianna over their shared love of basketball. Gianna dreamed of playing for the women's basketball team at the University of Connecticut, and her father had hoped to see her one day play professionally in the WNBA.

During a visit to "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in September, proud dad Kobe boasted that Gianna was determined to carry on his legacy on the basketball court.

“The best thing that happens is when we go out and fans will come up to me and she’ll be standing next to me and they’ll be like, ‘Hey, you got to have a boy. You and (my wife, Vanessa) got to have a boy, man. You gotta have somebody to carry on the tradition, the legacy,'" he shared.

That's when Gianna would step into the conversation.

“She’s like, ‘Oh, I got this. You don’t need no boy for that. I got this.’ I’m like, ‘That’s right. Yes, you do. You got this,'" he gushed.