National Basketball Association

Kobe set to join Hollywood shrine

Published Feb. 15, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel and George Lopez will be on hand to celebrate this weekend when Kobe Bryant becomes the first athlete to put his hands and feet in concrete outside Hollywood's famed Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Organizers told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kimmel will be the master of ceremonies at Saturday's ceremony during the NBA's All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, and Lopez will be the keynote speaker.

Lakers Executive Vice President Jeanie Buss also will speak at the ceremony honoring Bryant, the Lakers' career scoring leader after 15 years with Los Angeles.

Kimmel films his ABC late-night show across Hollywood Boulevard from the venerable theater. Lopez is a longtime fan who attends most of the Lakers' home games.

The courtyard outside Grauman's Chinese Theater contains dozens of concrete panels featuring handprints and footprints from nearly 200 famous actors dating back to the 1920s, from Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to prominent Lakers fan Jack Nicholson and the young stars of the Harry Potter film series.

Bryant is the first person with no association to the Hollywood film industry to be enshrined at the theater. The five-time NBA champion has won the past two finals MVP awards, and he became the eighth-leading scorer in NBA history last month, passing Hakeem Olajuwon.