Kobe Bryant, the man who stopped the league, put it on pause whenever he spoke. Bryant’s popularity and authority in the 2000s and 2010s were something of a legend. So, when Craig Sager tried to get Carmelo Anthony to open up, Bryant was there to shut things down. And for good reason.
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So, throw it back to the 2011 All-Star game. The media knows something is up and one of the biggest names at the time, Carmelo Anthony is set to take his talents out of Denver to a big city, the Big Apple, to be precise.
All weekend long Carmelo had been talking to a lot of people and he couldn’t contain his excitement about a big move. After all, the city of New York is perhaps the one mecca of basketball that everyone loves to play in.
So, Craig Sager, being the charming broadcaster he is; decided that he could illicit information straight out of Melo’s mouth. But Kobe Bryant knew otherwise.
Because I said so. Big Brother said so”: Kobe Bryant detracted attention back to All-Star Weekend with a simple shutdown
Of course, a player like Kobe Bryant knew that this would not only cost Carmelo but also the league and the attention will be taken away from the All-Star weekend.
And as Sager interviewed, Bryant was smart enough to jump in and make sure that Anthony would not reveal anything. Just take a look at this clip.
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Why Kobe’s intervention was important
A crucial aspect of this scene is that Bryant here is helping Melo save face. The league is not kind to players who like to be brazen about their interests.
This came after a trade that would have clubbed Kobe and Chris Paul together was vetoed by the league. Bryant is a real big brother to Carmelo here.
As expected the trade did go down a few days later and since then Melo has been nothing short of the best player to suit up for the Knicks this century.
