Players, fans agree Kobe Bryant should start All-Star Game
Anyone having a problem with Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant starting for the Western Conference in next month’s NBA All-Star Game may need to have a conversation with Oklahoma City superstar Kevin Durant.
Despite some pedestrian statistics this season, Bryant was voted in by the fans to start in the Feb. 14 All-Star Game in Toronto. The symbolic honor likely has everything to do with Bryant’s popularity and the fact that he’s retiring after this season, and absolutely nothing to do with his lukewarm 15.8 scoring average and 34.7 shooting percentage.
But as the unofficial president of the Kobe Bryant Fan Club, Durant said that’s OK.
“This is a legacy deal,” said Durant, who also was voted in as a starter for the West by the fans. “This is [Bryant’s] last season, so of course he should be voted in. He’s a legend, he’s our heir to [Michael Jordan], and he definitely deserves it.”
I’m looking forward to being around the guys and getting a chance to joke around with them a little bit, have some shooting games with them a little bit and get out there and play one more time.
Kobe Bryant on his final NBA All-Star appearance
Bryant led all players in the All-Star fan voting with 1,891,614 votes. Now in his 20th season, the Lakers great has seen a smorgasbord of players, coaches, fans and media tug at their heartstrings as he takes his final tour through the NBA before hanging up his sneakers.
That tour includes Bryant playing in his 18th All-Star game — a game where he is a four-time Most Valuable Player, and a game where he’s the all-time scoring leader.
“That feels great, especially to have him there,” said Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook, also named as an All-Star starter for the West. “Having him playing in the game is going to be a crazy exciting moment.”
Bryant is the NBA’s third all-time leading scorer behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. He’s glad his whirlwind tour includes one last stop playing in the All-Star Game.
“I’m looking forward to being around the guys and getting a chance to joke around with them a little bit, have some shooting games with them a little bit and get out there and play one more time,” Bryant said. “It’s been fun to be able to enjoy each city being the last time.
“It’s been fun to kind of go there and laugh and joke around with the fans during the game a little bit, which is something I typically never do because I’m so locked in.”
Bryant, 37, sat out his final game against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday at Staples Center with a sore right shoulder.
“I’m not big on legacy and stuff like that, but when I think about Kobe it’s not so much scores or rings or wins or losses, it’s [his] intensity, his ability to show people what it takes to be a star,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. “There’s a group of guys that are so disciplined and focused beyond what is normally humanly possible — him, Dirk [Nowitzki of the Mavs], [San Antonio’s Tim] Duncan, maybe LeBron [James of the Cleveland Cavaliers], Durant.
Kobe’s meant a lot to the game of basketball. It’s just the way he’s played the game, the mentality he brings when he steps on the court and the things he did.
Rockets forward Corey Brewer
“They are just guys that when you talk about the game since I’ve been an owner [in 2000], these are guys that what they do on the court speaks for itself, but what they do off the court is a better example. And that to me is really what makes Kobe shines.”
The coronation of Bryant as an All-Star starter is the antithesis of Nov. 7, 1991, when then-Lakers superstar Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the NBA after he tested positive for HIV. The fans still voted Johnson in as an All-Star starter, but some players — most notably Utah’s Karl Malone — worried what would happen to them if Johnson suffered an open wound on the court.
Johnson wound up playing in that All-Star game and took home MVP honors after he finished with 25 points, five rebounds and nine assists.
No such drama of that nature circulated around Bryant’s inclusion on this year’s All-Star team. But there are those who believe others should have been a starter, mainly Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
It’s going to be a fun time. I can’t wait to hear his name called on the All-Star stage and hear everybody cheer for him. That’s how he should go out.
Kevin Durant on Kobe Bryant
“Kobe’s meant a lot to the game of basketball,” Houston Rockets forward Corey Brewer said. “It’s just the way he’s played the game, the mentality he brings when he steps on the court and the things he did.
“He scored 81 points in a game [against Toronto in 2006] — that’s a lot of points — and he won five championships. Just the way he played the game meant a lot, and he helped build the game the way it’s built today.”
And that’s precisely why Durant believes no one should have a problem with Bryant starting in his last All-Star game.
“Of course every year somebody is going to be left off no matter if Kobe made it or not,” Durant said. “But to have one of the greats that’s going out, that’s retiring after this year, to give him that recognition, man, this is pretty cool. It’s going to be a fun time. I can’t wait to hear his name called on the All-Star stage and hear everybody cheer for him. That’s how he should go out.”
Dwain Price: 817-390-7760, @dwainprice
This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Players, fans agree Kobe Bryant should start All-Star Game."