It’s shaping up to be quite a year for One Chicago alums. First, Chicago Justice star Monica Barbaro made franchise history by becoming the first One Chicago star to land an Oscar nomination. Now, former Chicago Fire star Rome Flynn has taken home the MVP award of the annual NBA All-Star Celebrity Game!
As a member of Team Bonds, coached by San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds and rapper 2 Chainz, Flynn helped lead his team to a 66-55 win over Team Rice, coached by San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice and social media star Khaby Lame. Flynn was an absolute monster on the court finishing with a game-high 22 points, while also racking up eight rebounds, five assists, and one steal.
After winning the MVP honor, Flynn gave all the glory to his teammates and thanked them for their support of him heading into and during the game.
“Shout-out my teammates. They were looking for me before the game. They said, ‘We want you to get the MVP.’ I’m a selfless guy. I just want to win. They just put the ball in my hands,” Flynn said of his win.
Flynn’s performance in the game was a true standout and he showed off some serious basketball skills in the All-Star Celebrity Game, shining through on a team of All-Stars that included streamer Kai Cenat, former NBA player Baron Davis, two-time Atlanta Dream All-Star Allisha Gray, Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell, actor Dylan Wang, Captain America: New World Order star Danny Ramirez, and Grammy-nominees Mickey Guyton, Noah Kahan and Tucker Halper. The team also included fellow Wolf Entertainment alum Pablo Schreiber, who played William Lewis on Law & Order: SVU.
While NBA fans might not have been aware of Flynn’s skills on the court, One Chicago fans aren’t likely surprised at all to see the former Chicago Fire star winning the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game MVP. Flynn has long been a passionate fan of the game and is no stranger to hitting the court as a member of the Drew League which unites streetball legends, professional stars, and LA local kids through their love of basketball.
Flynn of course is best known for his all-too-brief stint as Jake Gibson in season 12 of Chicago Fire, a stint that lasted just six episodes before the character was written out of the show. To say the show underutilized Flynn would be a major understatement.
We were just getting to know Gibson when the show suddenly gave the character an addiction storyline that came out of nowhere leading to his exit from the show. The good news is that the door was left open for a possible return, but the odds of seeing Flynn return seem low given the way the show mismanaged the character -- hinting perhaps the writers didn't really know how to best use him and thus why they wrote him out so quickly.