Kobe Bryant On The All-Star Game, Pau Gasol & Kendall Marshall

Kobe Bryant spoke with reporters before Sunday’s Lakers loss to the visiting Nuggets, and he sounded off on a number of different topics. Namely, the All-Star game, where he’s encouraged fans to vote for younger guards to start in his place. Then he spoke about the Pau Gasol trade rumors, and Kendall Marshall‘s hilarious ask for a #followback on Twitter after his big game to start his Lakers career.

Lakers Nation posted the two-part Q&A where Kobe talks about Pau Gasol, Kendall Marshall and even old coach, Phil Jackson. About Gasol, Kobe says the trade rumors about him have been around every year except when they won back-to-back titles and he thinks Pau is “pretty numb to it” at this point.

About Kendall Marshall, Kobe likes his big size despite his “weird looking shot,” and thinks he could be a contributor. Marshall scored 20 points (8-of-12 from the field) and dished 15 dimes in his first start for the Lakers on Friday night against the visiting Jazz (we were actually at the game, and he looked fantastic knocking down a huge three-pointer late in the fourth with that bizarre-looking shot). Kobe’s going to follow Kendall back.

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In Part 2, Kobe spoke about Phil Jackson’s spirituality around the game, the Lakers chances this season, Kobe’s fractured knee, Nick Young‘s impersonation, and playing in the All Star Game despite having only played five games this year.

Kobe says fans should vote for some of the younger players even though he’s leading the next Western Conference guard, Chris Paul, by more than 200,000 votes after the second ballot results were released.

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What do you think of Kobe’s comments?

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