All-Stars to wear 24 and 2 to honor Kobe, Gianna

The NBA’s All-Stars will be playing this year with Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant in their minds and on their jerseys. So, coming soon: No. 24 Giannis Antetokounmpo, and No. 2 LeBron James.

As part of a long series of tributes to Bryant and his daughter Gianna, the NBA announced Friday that every player on Team Giannis will wear 24 jerseys at this year’s All-Star Game and every player on Team LeBron will wear No. 2.

Kobe Bryant spent the last 10 seasons of his career in a No. 24 jersey. Gianna Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and an outstanding young player, favored 2 as her jersey number.

All players taking part in All-Star weekend — including Friday’s Rising Stars game and the Saturday events like the 3-point contest, slam dunk contest and skills competition — will wear a patch with nine stars to commemorate the nine victims of Sunday’s helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. The patches for Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 will also bear the numbers 2 and 24.

The decision means that almost every All-Star is assured of wearing a different number than usual. The only All-Star who regularly wears 2 or 24 is Kawhi Leonard, who dons No. 2 for the Clippers.

Antetokounmpo and James, captains for the Feb. 16 game in Chicago, will pick their teams this Thursday.

“It’s been a rough week because of Kobe,” said first-time All-Star Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat — who never met Bryant, but was a huge fan and was hoping to meet him at AllStar this year. “Just going through that, it’s been rough.”