Kawhi Leonard Brings Back a Kobe Bryant Story After Winning the First Kobe Bryant MVP Award

Kawhi Leonard became the first person to win the Kobe Bryant MVP award on Sunday after the 2020 NBA All-Star game at United Center, Chicago.

Leonard scored 30 points on the night when Kobe Bryant seemed to have brought back competitiveness to the All-Star game. A new format saw the players actually fight for it- something that All-Star games over the years have lacked. The format of reaching a target score of 24 points more than the leading team after three quarters was once again, introduced as an honour to Bryant.

“It felt like playing in the league in a playoff game,” Anthony Davis, whose free throw won the game for team LeBron, said after the game. “It’s a great competition, and it’s 24 players who go out and compete at a very high level, and to do it in front of a crowd like this, with a new format that we were a little skeptical of, we didn’t know how it was gonna go, but everyone, at the end of the day, they loved it. It brings back the competition, so it was great.”

Kawhi Leonard dedicates his MVP award to Kobe Bryant & brings back an old conversation

Leonard’s 30 points on the night consisted of eight three-pointers from 14 attempts. His final attempt could have been the winner of the night had he converted it.

“It means a lot to me,” Leonard said on winning the Kobe Bryant MVP award. “Words can’t even explain. Just making this the first Kobe Bryant MVP trophy, I wanna thank Kobe for everything he done for me. All the long talks and workouts. Thank you. This one’s for him.”

After winning the award, Kawhi shared a Kobe Bryant story with the NBA TV. He brought back a conversation where Kobe talked to him about the number of attempts made in a game. Much to his disbelief, Kawhi had found out that his highest number of attempts was nowhere near Bryant’s.