The Mamba Sports Academy is retiring the “Mamba” name in honor of the late Kobe Bryant.
Sports Academy CEO Chad Faulkner, who partnered with Bryant for the athletic training venture two years ago, told ESPN’s Marc J. Spears on Tuesday that he is changing the name of the Mamba Sports Academy back to The Sports Academy.
Sports Academy was started in 2016 but rebranded in December 2018 following the partnership with Bryant. The mission of the Sports Academy will remain the same despite the name change.
Bryant was heavily involved with The Mamba Sports Academy. Tons of NBA players would come from all over to work out there. The name change is a headscratcher because if you really wanted to honor Bryant’s legacy, keeping Mamba in the namesake of the academy would have been the best route in doing so.
