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Ohio State’s Duane Washington Jr., nephew of Derek Fisher, paying tribute to Kobe Bryant with message on sneakers

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

When Ohio State takes the floor against Northwestern on Sunday night, guard Duane Washington Jr. will be wearing sneakers with a special message on them after the recent, tragic passing of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant.

Washington, the nephew of Bryant’s former teammate Derek Fisher, wrote on his shoes “#8-24 Forever.” Ohio State shared an image of the shoe on Twitter before the two teams tipped off.

Ohio State and Northwestern are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. ET tipoff.

Bryant and his daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash near Calabasas on Sunday, on the way to a travel basketball game, according to the LA Times. Bryant was 41 and daughter Gianna was 13.

Bryant was a 20-year veteran of the NBA, winning five championships during his career. He was also a two-time NBA Finals MVP, a one-time league MVP (2008) and an 18-time NBA All-Star. He played his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB