Basketball, like any other sport, is highly competitive. Top players stop at nothing to dominate their opponents in order to win. On the court, there is no quarter given. Off the court relationships are usually a little more civil.
Every once in while the adversaries on-court become firm friends away from the game. Some even stay buddies long after their NBA careers have come to a close. It may not happen often but bromances in the NBA are newsworthy snippets of information that usually make it onto the social pages.
Here are three instances where friendships have blossomed and grown away from the lights, noise and action of the NBA… and in two of the best-ever basketball-infused bromances, one guy takes centre stage!
LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony
LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are more than friends… they are brothers. The two stars met almost 20 years ago on the eve of the biggest high school basketball tournament of the year.
Since then they have achieved greatness on the world stage - with their respective teams and during their golden tenure with Team USA.
Both men are not only matched in terms of age, they were both drafted into the NBA in 2003 as power forwards. James was first pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Anthony third in the draft for the Denver Nuggets.
Although history hasn’t been as kind to Melo - he has struggled to maintain the flourish and form of his earlier years - the two men have huge respect for each other and talk of a ‘kinship’ that goes way beyond their shared love of basketball.
Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook
Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook have never played for the same basketball team or even lived particularly close to each other. Yet they are a formidable offseason duo that work out as one. At one point in their careers, they even shared the same manager.
Rose and Westbrook are not only both point guards who now play for the Detroit Pistons and Houston rockets respectively, they were born in the same year, just one month apart.
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They are both MVPs and multiple NBA All-Star players and during the 2010 FIBA World Championships they teamed up to capture gold for Team USA.
The two cemented their friendship in Turkey and were seen dining, shopping and exploring Istanbul together and having an all-round good time. As Westbrook admitted in an interview; “Rose is a real cool guy… a jokester!”
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Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony
The late Kobe Bryant, who tragically lost his life in a helicopter crash earlier this year, is credited with helping his national team mate Carmelo Anthony improve his game. Whatever advice Bryant gave the up and coming young star clearly paid off as Melo is Team USA’s all-time leading goal scorer!
The two forged a strong and loyal friendship during the gold medal run at the Beijing and London Olympics. Despite playing for different teams in different cities they managed to find time for each other and built a friendship that was ‘special’.
On hearing of Kobe Bryant’s untimely death, a passing that shocked fans as far afield as Zambia, the power forward for the Trail Blazers gave a heartfelt tribute to his mentor and friend before going on to the court to play the Indiana Pacers in what he described as the “hardest game I’ve ever had to play”.
In Melo’s own words: “our friendship and relationship was deeper than basketball… it was family. Basketball was just one piece of connective tissue between us.’ RIP Kobe Bryant.
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