Kobe Bryant played in the final NBA All-Star Game of his career Sunday night, and he was given a very appropriate farewell. The highlight of the weekend — for us at least — had to have been the dinner some fellow All-Stars arranged in his honor.
After the All-Star Saturday festivities, Bryant was treated to an exquisite dinner that was organized by Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade. The dinner, which is something the three aforementioned players started last season, was very secretive. And there were gifts — some of them serious in nature and others not so much.
The “serious” gifts included a massive bottle of Italian wine, which was a tribute to Kobe having grown up in Italy. But there were also some awesome gag gifts, and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press noted a few of them.
Wade gave him a customized robe and some other clothes bearing his logo — along with a one-year subscription to Netflix, because Bryant is about to have a lot of time on his hands. Paul gave him a bunch of presents that he said would properly prepare Bryant for retirement, such as dental adhesive, reading glasses, compression socks and a cane. Anthony offered a magnum of Gaja Barbaresco, Italian wine for the player who grew up in Italy and says much like vino itself he got better with age.
Bryant has never been the most social player in the NBA, and he often speaks about not needing to be friends with many people. It was less than a year ago that he gave this awesome quote about not being a good friend, but it was hard for the five-time NBA champion to not show a softer side over the weekend.
“The thing that I’ll miss is matching up with you guys,” Bryant told Wade, Anthony and Paul. “Vanessa will tell you: I’ll be in the bed for hours — hours, man — not sleeping, watching film on you guys because you are driving me (expletive) crazy.
“This is amazing. I’m not the most social person, so to get this from you guys means absolutely everything to me.”
Between the dinner, LeBron James bombarding him during an interview (video here) and plenty of other great moments, Kobe’s last All-Star Game weekend seemed quite memorable.
