Earlier this year, 2 major figures in the world of professional basketball passed away.
The first was David Stern, the former commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The second was Kobe Bryant, the former NBA player who won multiple championships in his 20-year career.
SVG, Getty Images
David Stern & Kobe Bryant
1.) David Stern
David Stern never played professional basketball but he still made a major impact on the game.
He first worked with the NBA as a lawyer during the 1970's. He became the organization' executive vice-president in 1983 and rose up to become the commissioner the following year.
The 1980's were a time of renewed interest in basketball. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had their legendary rivalry, and a new player Micheal Jordan was emerging to eventually become the world's most famous athlete.
While the league was already lucky to have such dynamic players to bring in fans, David Stern saw an even greater potential for the business. He made efforts to promote the league worldwide. He encouraged international media outlets to cover the game. He encouraged teams to play exhibition games overseas.
When the Cold War ended, he encouraged the top Olympic players from formerly communist Eastern European countries to join the NBA. It got to the point where most of the "white" players in the NBA came from overseas.
In 1992 came another opportunity to promote the NBA worldwide. The Olympics were now open to professional athletes. USA had its Dream Team with Micheal Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird & other NBA stars (plus token college player Christian Lattner) to dominate the competition. The Dream Team inspired the new generation of players from around the world to step their game up!
The NBA also became blessed with more superstars like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, and LeBron James. Basketball has become the world's second most popular sport after soccer (aka futbol).
However, there were some challenges during this time. A labor dispute in 1999 left some negative feelings from the players towards Stern.
Then in late 2004, there was the Malice in the Palace. Ron Artest (of the Indiana Pacers) got into a fight with Ben Wallace (of the Detroit Pistons, the home team). Just when things were calming down on the court, a fan threw a cup at Ron Artest, who reacted by fighting with members of the audience. His teammates joined in the action and had to be escorted to the lockers while audience members threw objects at them. The incident received massive coverage from the press and David Stern feared that the incident would scare European-American audiences away from a game dominated by African-Americans.
David Stern responded with a controversial dress code, which was meant to discourage the players from wearing hip-hop related fashion when not in uniform. Nevermind that hip-hop was basically the league's soundtrack the previous 2 decades. Charles Barkley basically laughed at the league pandering to red-state European-Americans by having country musicians perform during the All-Star Game in the years following the Malice in the Palace.
David Stern might've pandered to cultural conservatives, but he sure wasn't concerned with becoming fiscally conservative as he continued to allow teams to demand taxpayer's subsidies for updated stadiums. This during an era where the taxpayers are showing less tolerance towards subsidizing facilities for teams owned by billionaires. The people of Seattle loved their Supersonics but because they also believed that the team owners should lift themselves up by their bootstraps and pay for their own stadium, the team was moved to Oklahoma City where they became the Thunder.
This idiocy isn't only limited to the NBA, as the NFL's Rams, Chargers and Raiders all moved cities all because of billionaire owners who demanded more subsidies instead of lifting themselves by their bootstraps and build their own stadiums in the same city.
The league also added teams during Stern's reign as commissioner, including the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors and the Grizzlies (who started in Vancouver and later moved to Memphis).
David Stern retired in 2014, to be replaced by current commissioner Adam Silver. Stern died on the first day of 2020 after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 77 years old.
Learn more on David Stern
Associated Press, “Former NBA Commissioner David Stern Dies at 77,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, January 1, 2020,
Kevin Draper, “N.B.A. Superstars, Growth and Lockouts: The David Stern Years,” New York Times, January 1, 2020,
Dave Zirin, “The Towering, Complicated Legacy of David Ster,” Edge of Sports, January 2, 2020,
2.) Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant had a legendary career in the game of basketball.
His father, Joe Bryant, was also a professional basketball who spent some time in the NBA as well as in the Italian leagues. Italy was where Kobe Bryant spent most of his childhood before moving back to the USA just in time for high school. Even though it was a major cultural adjustment for Kobe, he earned major respect from his peers through his basketball talents. It wasn't only his peers that were impressed. He gained national recognition as the top high school player. Though he had the academic potential to gain admission to almost every college out there, he decided to go straight to the NBA after high school.
At the time, very few even dared go directly from high school to the pros. There were a few who did it before, including Kevin Garnett and Darryl Dawkins. However, Kobe's success in going from high school to the NBA inspired others to do the same, including Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James. This trend ended in 2005 when the new NBA collective bargaining agreement required new players to be at least one year since graduating high school, giving birth to a new trend of "one and dones" being those who only spent one year playing college basketball before moving on to the NBA.
In 1996, Kobe Bryant was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets but was promptly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In the same year, Shaquille O'Neal left the Orlando Magic to join the Lakers. This was the start of a new era for the Lakers, a potential return dominance that the team lost when Magic Johnson retired due to HIV.
In the first few years, Shaq & Kobe showed some potential but they didn't always get along and they got eliminated from the playoffs.
In the 1999-2000 season, a new sheriff was in town. The Lakers hired Phil Jackson to be their coach. Jackson was the coach for the Chicago Bulls during the Micheal Jordan era, winning 6 championships. The question was could Phil Jackson do the same for the Lakers?
The answer was yes, as Shaq & Kobe became the dynamic duo that brought the Lakers to 3 straight championships.
However, things went downhill afterward as the Shaq & Kobe became distanced again. Shaq eventually left for the Miami Heat. Lakers were now Kobe's team now! People questioned whether Kobe can win a championship without Shaq.
The answer became yes in 2009 as the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic. The following year, the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics!
Kobe played a few more years. In his last few seasons, Kobe was slowed down by injuries and he had younger teammates that just weren't ready for championship-level basketball. In his final year (2016), the Lakers didn't make the playoffs, but he did finish his career as a winner being that the team won the final game of the regular season.
During his career, he also won 2 Olympic Gold Medals as a member of the 2008 and 2012 USA men's basketball team. This added to his legend as one of the game's greatest players. It also made him loved even by those who loathed the Lakers!
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Kobe Bryant was known to be a supporter of the women's game, attending WNBA games as well as coaching his daughter's teams.
As former WNBA player Rebecca Lobo tweeted
No NBA player supported the WNBA or women's college basketball more than Kobe. He attended games, watched on TV, coached the next generation. We pray for his family.
https://www.facebook.com/espnW/posts/10157667934490734:0
However, there was an alleged incident that overshadowed his public support for gender equality.
During the summer of 2003, there was a rape allegation. Kobe Bryant was visiting Colorado when a female hotel employee said he invited her to his room and he allegedly forced himself on her. The case didn't go to a criminal trial, but the alleged victim did file a civil lawsuit. The case was settled out of court, with Kobe making an apology statement saying that
Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.”
After that, the case was quickly forgotten by the general public.
Learn more about the case at
Kevin Draper, “Kobe Bryant and the Sexual Assault Case That Was Dropped but Not Forgotten,” Yahoo, January 28, 2020
https://www.yahoo.com/news/kobe-bryant-sexual-assault-case-130937987.html
When those allegations became public, I was a student at the University of Hawaii and I wrote opinion articles for the school's newspaper Ka Leo O Hawaii. I did write an article about Kobe's allegations. The article neither condemned nor defended him, instead, the article was about how the media covers celebrity rape cases as well as other misconceptions regarding sexual assault.
Pablo Wegesend, “Media Should Respect Lives of Crime Victims,” Ka Leo O Hawaii, September 2, 2003
http://www.manoanow.org/media-should-respect-lives-of-crime-victims/article_f3e56d71-0df0-5032-9c58-08aa503a4e58.html
The issue did resurface after Kobe's death, especially since this is the #metoo era.
The most controversial mention of the case involved a high school principal who tweeted on the day of his death that "Not gonna lie. Seems to me that karma caught up with a rapist today".
Had she say that about Harvey Weinstein, there would've been no backlash. However, she didn't take into account that Kobe Bryant was seen as a hero to many teenagers and you never want to diss their heroes when they die, no matter how flawed they were.
This generation is too young to remember Kobe's rape case and therefore only knew him as a legendary athlete. The fact that his daughter was about the same age as the principal's students made the issue much more sensitive to them.
The principal could've initiated a teaching moment with the students about celebrity worship, celebrity allegations and the media coverage of celebrities. But not like that!
The principal has since resigned.
William Mansell, “Principal Who Said It Was 'karma' That Kobe Bryant Died Resigns,” ABC News, February 8, 2020,
https://abcnews.go.com/US/principal-karma-kobe-bryant-died-resigns/story?id=68847244.
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On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna (Gigi) were in a helicopter with her friends and their families on the way to a tournament they were scheduled to play. They didn't reach their intended destination as the helicopter crashed. There were no survivors. The circumstances of the crash are still under investigation.
Kobe Bryant was 41 years old. Gianna was 13 years old.
There were 7 other people who perished in the helicopter crash.
This New York Times article had a great profile on all those who died in that crash.
Sarah Mervosh and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, “The 9 Victims of the Helicopter Crash That Killed Kobe Bryant,” New York Times, January 27, 2020,
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/who-died-helicopter-crash-kobe-altobelli-chester-zobayan-mauser.html
Other great articles on Kobe Bryant
Marc Stein, “Kobe Bryant’s Brilliant and Complicated Legacy,” New York Times, January 26, 2020,
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/sports/kobe-bryant-obituary.html
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This article on how coaching his daughter rekindled his appreciation of the game after he retired
Cindy Boren, “Kobe Bryant had left basketball behind. His daughter Gigi brought him back.,” Washington Post, January 27, 2020,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/01/26/gianna-bryant-kobe-daughter/
On the WNBA players who saw themselves in Gianna "Gigi" Bryant, as well as their appreciation of Kobe Bryant
Mechelle Voepel, “'She aas the future' -- WNBA Stars Saw Themselves in Kobe Bryant's Daughter Gigi,” ESPN, January 27, 2020,
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/28577043/she-was-future-wnba-stars-saw-kobe-bryant-daughter-gigi
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This article focused on Kobe's Catholic faith, how it helped him during hard times and how it encouraged him to do charitable works
Philip Kosloski, “Remembering Kobe Bryant: Formed and Saved by His Catholic Faith,” Aleteia
https://aleteia.org/2016/04/15/kobe-bryant-saved-by-his-catholic-faith/
