TORONTO — Before the N.B.A. All-Star Game on Sunday night, Stephen Curry told Kobe Bryant that he planned to accumulate a ton of assists by feeding the ball to Bryant as often as possible. Bryant, on the cusp of retirement with the Los Angeles Lakers, essentially advised Curry to pump the brakes.
“You’re going to pass the ball at the All-Star Game?” Bryant recalled telling Curry, the ascendant star of the Golden State Warriors. “Are you crazy?”
Bryant, 37, still delights in the public’s adoration — witness his broad smile whenever he waded into crowds here over the weekend.