Kevin Durant dropped 44 in the Drew-Goodman showdown Saturday and the Drew League won 135-134. But, as is custom for exhibition games in which the players are not making much if anything at all in a hastily organized game versus an NBA game for which the players get paid millions and which drives the emotions of millions of fans, the players really care. Immediately afterwards, Brandon Jennings tweeted the game ended on a bad call, and demanded a rematch.
And naturally, Durant, never one to back down, immediately said he was up for it. So did John Wall.
There’s talk of an L.A. rematch September 10th. More interesting than that? TruthAboutIt.Net reports that Dino Smiley, Drew League commissioner, said after the game that Kobe Bryant might be joining the festivities for the rematch. That would ramp things up to a whole other level. The hype for that game would be out of control, to the point where it’s probably not a good idea for Bryant to commit to it before the day of the game.
If Bryant does agree, Smiley needs to get a better media distribution deal, some sponsors, and actually make this thing professional. It’s too big of an opportunity. Use the money on the park, use the money on the community, but people are desperate for basketball with the lockout almost definitely going to cost games. Taking advantage of an opportunity like that is key, even if Bryant doesn’t show up.
Hey, maybe this time there won’t be a massive over-selling of tickets or huge problems with the live stream. We can hope, right?