“Kobe Bryant waved off Karl Malone to go at Michael Jordan”: Jason Kidd describes how him and rest of the All-Stars were flabbergasted by the cojones the young Lakers stud had

Kobe Bryant waved off a Karl Malone screen to go at Michael Jordan one on one, leaving Jason Kidd and the other All-Stars in awe. 

Kobe Bryant burst onto the scene as a 17 year old straight out of high school and immediately made it be known that he was in the NBA to achieve things only a few could even fathom achieving. He certainly caught Michael Jordan’s eye due to the obvious similarities in physique, play-style, and mentality. 

MJ’s agent, David Falk, once said that Kobe Bryant was the closest thing to Michael Jordan there ever was and he isn’t wrong about that. Arguing on whether or not the remix was better than the original is futile as both were once in a generation type players.

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From the get-go Bryant made it a mission to show up and show out against his idol. His first instance of really wanting to go at Jordan was his first All-Star Game in 1998.  

Kobe Bryant had Jason and the All-Stars in shock after he waved off a Karl Malone screen. 

Karl Malone had perhaps the greatest PnR connection as the roll man in NBA history with his pick ‘n’ roll with John Stockton having been performed and perfected over a thousand times. Yet, when Karl came over to screen for Kobe Bryant when MJ was marking him, the Lakers youngster casually waved him off.

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“The biggest thing that stood out was Kobe was going to go after Michael, and he wasn’t scared. One of the plays that I will never forget, and you can ask Karl Malone about it someday, is that he asked for a pick-and-roll and Kobe waved him off, and I think we were all in awe or shock,” said Jason Kidd. 

“That’s Karl Malone, pick-and-roll with John Stockton, they’ve done it a million times, so Kobe and Karl. And Kobe was like, ‘no no no I got this all by myself’, and he waved Karl out and he did his thing. And I think Karl was like, ‘okay I need to come out of the game because this has passed me now.’”

Malone would eventually set way more screens for Bryant 6 years down the line when the Jazz legend took his talents to LA to join forces with the final iteration of the Kobe-Shaq Lakers. Their season ended in the NBA Finals by getting gentlemen swept by the Detroit Pistons.