Kobe Bryant has been voted as a starter in the Western Conference for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game
It’s never really been in question since he announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2015-16 NBA season, but it was made official on Thursday night: Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant has been named a starter for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in the Western Conference frontcourt, as announced by the Inside the NBA crew on TNT.
As he has through all of the voting returns in the process of the fan-vote, Kobe led all players in terms of votes in being named an All-Star starter with almost 1.9 million votes in the final tally. This will be his 18th career All-Star nod, all of which have seen him voted in as a starter.
Barring something horrific happening in the next month (please, God, no), however, this will be the first time in the last three years that Kobe will be healthy enough to play in the All-Star Game. He was voted in as a starter the past two seasons, but injuries that derailed his seasons as a whole kept him from competing in the showcase. Bryant also missed the 2010 All-Star Game due to injury and played only three minutes in the 2008 rendition of the contest due to a pinky injury.
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Kobe will be joined by Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard in the West frontcourt with Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook rounding out the starters. They’ll face an Eastern Conference group of starters featuring LeBron James, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Kyle Lowry.
There will certainly be plenty of people lamenting Kobe, who admittedly hasn’t been great statistically this season, being named a starter this season. However, those people can, frankly, kick rocks. The All-Star Game really isn’t terribly important and this is a sort of lifetime achievement honor for Kobe. For what he’s accomplished throughout his career, he unquestionably deserves this.
Hopefully fans will now be treated to one last classic Kobe performance in the All-Star Game come Feb. 14 in Toronto.