Ask for celebrities, and you’ll find that many playing in the league are celebrities themselves. In the NBA, courtside sightings of stars are almost routine, but that doesn’t mean players are immune to being star-struck. Back in the day, Magic Johnson and the Lakers would celebrate victories by partying with none other than Jack Nicholson. A young Carmelo Anthony once found himself stunned—not just by meeting Muhammad Ali, but by the fact that Ali actually knew who he was. That moment left a mark. Yet, not every encounter sparked the same awe. When Carmelo was set to meet Jackie Chan, one of the greatest action film icons, his reaction was surprisingly indifferent. On the other hand, Jackie Chan was ecstatic. Like every story unfolds, now over a decade later, a former G League player revealed just how desperate the situation had been on his end in one such moment.
Here is how it all happened. During a sit-down with Certified Gs, former G League player Rod Benson mentioned the time in 2009 when he partied with Jackie Chan, Carmelo Anthony, and another famed actress, Taraji P. Henson. It was during the NBA Global Games, and Melo, who was with the Nuggets, was in China. Their team was facing Rod Benson’s Indiana Pacers, whom Melo handed a loss of 128-112 with his 45 points. But right before the day off, Benson, alongside the others, caught up at one of the Jordan events. And one of the guests was Henson.
Henson was there to shoot The Karate Kid. And it was she who suggested that they head to another party to meet the actor. While Benson was excited about the idea, he noticed that Melo wasn’t. That’s when he started to look at him in a pleading manner to join the party. “I’m sitting there like, oh, please say yes, Carmelo. Like, I’m not in charge at all. It’s crazy because me and (Carmelo Anthony) are the same age, but I’m looking at him like he’s like my father. Like, Daddy, please say yes. Please meet this guy. And so he’s like, yeah, sure. Whatever. Like, he honestly doesn’t care. He’s probably already met him or I don’t know. We pull up to another Ritz Carlton,” he recounted.
Luckily, he said yes. Well, it was at this party where the real fun began. The event was certainly very different from the one before. And the interesting part was Jackie Chan. The actor greeted his guests warmly. Following this, he also offered Benson to smoke, which he wasn’t familiar with. As he admitted his lack of knowledge, the actor himself decided to teach him how to smoke.
“He’s like, well, you don’t know how to smoke. I’ll teach you how to smoke. Chris Tucker taught me one thing is to represent my hood. And he lights it for me. He’s like, pop up. And I’m like, he’s like, good. I’m like, oh, let me take a picture,” he said.
Well, it’s been quite some time since the actor quit smoking. But experiencing such a moment might have been enthralling for Benson. While the actor learned one thing from Chris Tucker, he learned another from Kobe Bryant, who is one of China’s the most favorite basketball stars.
Jackie Chan took inspiration from Kobe for his son Jaycee
If there’s one thing you’ll almost never catch the iconic actor doing—on or off screen—it’s sitting still for long. His explosive energy and nonstop action are the lifeblood of his films. He craves that same intensity in his everyday life, too. So, when he noticed his son Jaycee sitting idly, he was confused and wanted to encourage him to do something. The tense father brought everything from a piano to a violin to inspire his son.
However, nothing seemed to work until he found Bryant. So, he urged his son to play basketball, and Bryant became a source of inspiration. And it worked. He kept hearing from his wife that their son was interested in the sport and excelling at all the tricks. “I later realized it was wrong of me to demand so much of him based on what I liked instead of trying to find out where his own interests lay. I shouldn’t have pushed my ideas onto him. I was too harsh about trying to force him to play those instruments,” he said.
Kobe Bryant poses for a portrait inside of his office in Costa Mesa, California, on Jan. 17, 2020. Bryant, one of the greatest NBA players in history, is building an impressive resume in his post-basketball career, including winning an Academy Award.
Even if the actor and filmmaker felt guilty about it, we can’t deny that the influence worked for him. An inspiration from the NBA great Bryant always works, and there’s no doubt about that. While both are masters of their own craft, one thing the two had in common was their intensity and love for their passion. That stands true for the two legends.
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