The 2020 NBA Hall Of Fame class is arguably the greatest ever. Headlining the class are Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. This morning, the Basketball Hall of Fame twitter accounted announced the presenters for the 2020 class. When it comes to presenters, usually they have a connection to the new inductee in one way or another. It’s no shock that Michael Jordan is presenting Bryant due to their big brother little brother relationship.
Kobe Bryant Memorial
“When Kobe Bryant died, a piece of me died,” Jordan said during the memorial. Just as everyone else across the country felt after Bryant’s tragic death.
It’s no shock that Jordan felt heartache for Bryant due to their relationship. Jordan told the crowd that Kobe would annoy him asking questions up until the point where Michael told ok I’ll help you. But it was because of the persistence of wanting to be great that Jordan admired in Kobe. Not to mention that many viewed Kobe as the next Michael Jordan. And in retrospect, he is the closest we’ve seen to Michael.
“He (Kobe) wanted to be the best basketball player he could be,” Jordan said. “And as I got to know him, I wanted to be the best big brother I could be.”
Michael even told a story that Kobe texted him asking advice for his daughter. Kobe asked Michael what moves that he was working on at age 12. To which Michael replied “at 12 I was trying to play baseball.” To which Bryant then responded “laughing my ass off”. That was the special relationship the two had. When others saw Jordan as a god and were afraid to talk to him, Bryant did the opposite and opened himself to Michael.
According to John Salley, the reason Kobe chose to skip college and declare for the NBA after high school is because he knew Jordan was leaving the NBA soon and wanted play him before he retired for good.
The Class of 2020 at the Enshrinement Ceremony will be held Saturday, May 15 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
