NBA notebook: All-Stars to wear Nos. 2, 24 to honor Bryants

[February 01, 2020] 

NBA All-Star Game tributes to Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and all of the victims in a helicopter crash Sunday continue to take shape with the jersey details for both teams revealed for the Feb. 16 contest at Chicago.

Every player on Team LeBron, captained by LeBron James of the Lakers, will wear a jersey with the No. 2 in honor of 13-year-old Gianna Bryant, who wore the number in youth league games.

Team Giannis, captained by Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, will have its players wear No. 24, one of two numbers Bryant wore during his decorated NBA career. Both teams will wear a jersey patch that will have nine stars to represent all nine victims of the crash that occurred on a hillside last weekend at Calabasas, Calif.

During the Rising Stars game on Feb. 14, players will wear a patch with the Nos. 2 and 24, surrounded by nine stars. That patch also will be worn by participants in the Feb. 15 skills challenge, 3-point shooting contest and dunk contest.

--NBA All-Stars Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks headline the rosters of first- and second-year players chosen to play in the NBA Rising Stars game on Feb. 14.

The game will be at the United Center in Chicago, kicking off All-Star Weekend, and pits players from the United States against an international roster. NBA assistant coaches selected the Rising Stars rosters. The All-Star Game is scheduled on Feb. 16.

This is the second Rising Stars selection for Doncic and Young, high first-round selections in the 2018 NBA Draft.

--An MRI confirmed that the Mavericks' Doncic sustained a "moderate" right ankle sprain Thursday, according to multiple reports.

The Los Angeles Lakers honor the late Kobe Bryant by laying out t-shirts on every seat in the arena for the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Doncic, who turns 21 next month, is expected to miss about two weeks, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News reported. The injury occurred in practice on Thursday, coach Rick Carlisle said.

This is Doncic's second right ankle injury of the season. In mid-December, he missed four games while nursing the ankle. That injury occurred when he stepped on the foot of Kendrick Nunn of the Miami Heat.

-- Portland Trail Blazers power forward Carmelo Anthony will not play in Friday's road game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.

While the team listed Anthony's expected absence as "personal," Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic shed a bit more light on the matter.

Anthony will not play Friday night against the Lakers "because of his continued grieving and emotions over the loss of Kobe Bryant on Sunday," Charania reported in a video posted to the Stadium account on Twitter. Anthony, 35, was close friends with Bryant.

--Field Level Media

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.