VIDEO: Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade Got Emotional After All-Star Game's Tribute to Kobe Bryant

As much as this year's NBA All-Star Weekend was about the competitions and games, the last few days in Chicago were a perfect opportunity for the basketball community as a whole to mourn the tragic and untimely passing of Kobe Bryant at the age of 41 along with his daughter Gianna and seven other victims. Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade, two of Bryant's contemporaries and two of the select few who could ever hope to match his scoring prowess on a given night, failed to keep it together near the end of the league's tribute to the Black Mamba. The pair shared a tearful embrace in the moment worth far more than words.

Iverson's only finals appearance was with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001, when Kobe's Lakers beat him in five games. For his part, Wade competed with Bryant for the title of best shooting guard in the league for the better part of his entire career.

On the "Knuckleheads" podcast with former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, Kobe had remarked that he wanted to see some changes to the All-Star Game in order to make it more interesting and worthwhile. While derided originally, the "play until you hit a certain score" fourth quarter proved to be exhilarating, as the best players in the league finally showed some vigor as they had to clamp down near the end of the game.

Bryant got his wish for a revamped contest, and this Kobe-infused All-Star Weekend was as competitive as we've seen since the Mamba start to hit his prime in the early 2000s. Knowing Kobe wasn't around to witness it all was bittersweet for plenty of folks around the NBA -- Iverson and Wade chief among them -- but his presence and irrepressible energy were felt every step of the way.