Jennifer Hudson will pay her respects to Kobe Bryant at this weekend's All-Star Game.
On Thursday (February 12), the NBA announced that the 38-year-old Grammy-award winning singer will open the 2020 All-Star Game on Sunday (February 16) with a special tribute to Kobe, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and the seven other people whose lives were claimed in the tragic helicopter crash on January 26.
Sunday's game will also feature a performance from another Chicago native, Chance the Rapper, who is set to take the All-Star Game Halftime show stage alongside Lil Wayne,DJ Khaled, and Quavo.
Fellow Chicagoans Common,Taylor Bennett, Queen Latifah and Chaka Khan will also be performing during All-Star weekend. Taylor will perform at halftime of the NBA Rising Stars game on Friday (February 14), Common will share "a moving narrative about what basketball means to the city" before tip-off at the All-Star Game, Chaka is scheduled to sing the national anthem for Sunday's game, and Queen Latifah will perform a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Love's in Need of Love Today."
During the game, players will honor Kobe and Gianna by wearing their respective jersey numbers. Team LeBron will wear No. 2, Team Giannis will wear No. 25, and both teams will wear patches with nine stars representing those who lost their lives in the helicopter crash.
The NBA All-Star Game will air on TNT at 8 p.m. ET.