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Since his tragic passing in 2020, the NBA has come up with numerous ways to try and remember the legacy of Los Angeles Lakers basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Two years ago we witnessed the Kobe Bryant rules employed at the All-Star game in which the game featured a race to 24 points in the final quarter of the game, honoring his jersey number.
This season the Association announced the Kobe Bryant trophy which will be awarded to the MVP of the All-Star game. The trophy itself features many nods to Kobe’s career, from accomplishments to jersey numbers, and even past All-Star game performances.
The 2022 NBA All-Star game will be played on Feb. 20, and can be seen on TNT. Starters have already been announced, and the reserves will be revealed later today.
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With fewer memorable moments during the All-Star weekend events thanks to less excitement coming from the Dunk Contest in addition to a generally careless effort during the game itself, the NBA has tried several approaches to generate more popularity surrounding the not-so-highly-anticipated get-together.
Players have very little to play for and generally would prefer to just spend the time away from the game back at home with their families, or maybe use the spare moment to go on a short vacation.
Instead, they go through the motions for three days, despite only having a game of uninspired play featuring the game’s biggest stars of today, in addition to another game featuring the biggest stars of tomorrow, mixed in with about six dunks, a few three-point shots and some basic basketball drills between guards and skilled bigs.
Really? This is all we’ve come up with to showcase these incredible basketball athletes’ skill sets?
At least by adding a Kobe Bryan trophy, we should have more players showing a bit more effort aimed at trying to win some hardware for themselves. It’s hard to imagine anyone playing today who didn’t idolize the Black Mamba in a way, being able to display such a unique piece of memorabilia in your trophy case would be a special honor for any basketball player.