NBA announces All-Star Game MVP award will be renamed in honor of Kobe Bryant
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the All-Star Game MVP award has been renamed in honor of Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who died in a helicopter crash last month.
Silver made the announcement during his annual All-Star Weekend news conference Saturday night at the United Center in Chicago. Silver said the trophy presented to the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game will now be known as the Kobe Bryant MVP Award. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star who won a record-tying four All-Star Game MVP awards.
“This trophy will be presented at the conclusion of tomorrow night’s All-Star Game and I know it will be especially meaningful to that player that wins the first Kobe Bryant MVP,” Silver told reporters in Chicago. “... No one embodied All-Star more than Kobe Bryant.”
Silver made the announcement while discussing the recent deaths of Bryant and former NBA commissioner David Stern. Bryant perished along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a fiery helicopter crash Jan. 26 in Calabasas. Bryant’s death prompted tributes throughout the NBA.
Stern, who served as NBA commissioner for 30 years, died Jan. 1 after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
Silver referred to similarities between Bryant and Stern, two fiercely competitive and driven individuals who helped globalize the game.
“They pushed people because they wanted them to be their very best, and recognizing that it meant at times that people might not like them, but that’s what it was about — that competition is about winning,” Silver said. “I certainly wouldn’t be standing here today but for David Stern and the NBA wouldn’t be where it is today but for Kobe. May they both rest in peace.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2020 at 5:00 PM.
