As the Los Angeles Lakers continue to mourn Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna Bryant, and the seven other passengers who tragically died in the helicopter crash, the league announced plans to honor the legend during the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in Chicago.
James and Giannis Antetokounmpo were again voted as respective All-Star Game team captains and will have their draft on Feb. 6. Once selected, players will either wear a No. 2 jersey (Team LeBron) or No. 24 (Team Giannis).
“Pretty cool. They asked me which number did I want to wear — 24 or 2 — for my team, and I picked 2. Giannis is going to wear 24 for their team,” James said after Lakers practice. “It’s only right. It’s pretty, pretty cool.”
“We have a legend in our league, obviously with the situation that happened, so we get to honor him throughout the whole weekend.”
While James is among the players who admired and idolized Bryant, he is using the All-Star Game to honor Gianna’s No. 2. When asked how he came to that decision, James succinctly answered, “Zhuri,” in reference to his five-year-old daughter.
For all that James has accomplished throughout his career, he’s taken more pride in being a present father and setting an example for his children. James has attended Bronny James’ games whenever possible, including taking a helicopter flight while in Boston late last month.
James recently appeared on an episode of Zhuri’s vlog that streams on YouTube.
As for the All-Star Game format, the two teams will compete to win each of the first three quarters, all of which will start with a score of 0-0 and will be 12 minutes long.
The game clock will be turned off at the beginning of the fourth quarter and a final target score will be set. That will be determined by taking the leading team’s total cumulative score through three quarters and adding 24 points — the 24 of course represents the jersey number Bryant wore over the final 10 seasons of his NBA career.
The teams will play an untimed fourth quarter and the first to reach the final target score will win the All-Star Game.