Kobe’s gone ’til…November, right?
Kobe Bryant learned yesterday after an MRI that he’d torn the rotator cuff in his shooting arm, and would probably have to be shut down for the rest of the season. The Lakers’ coach, Byron Scott, had already publicly admitted that shutting Kobe down for the season, injury or not, would be in the cards if the Lake Show had no chance at the playoffs in March. Yesterday’s news pretty much forced his hand.
Today, it’s official. Kobe Bryant played his last game of the season in New Orleans in an eventful matchup with the Pelicans, which they lost by 16, and the Lakers will have to crawl to the end of their miserable season without their legendary guard barking instructions to them on the floor. The bigger question here is, will Kobe ever return?
It’s no secret that #24’s window is closing. This unfortunate news comes at the halfway mark of Bryant’s 20th season as a pro, meaning he’s spent more than half of his actual life–he’ll be 37 in August–in the NBA. He’s won 5 championships, including 3 in a row from 2000-2002, and numerous other accolades, including NBA MVP, several NBA Finals MVPs, scoring titles, All-NBA selections and the like. His list of accomplishments is decisively longer than that of any other active player, and more impressive than that of the majority of inactive players. To say Kobe’s left his mark on the NBA would be like saying Taylor Swift can sell a few records–a condescending understatement.
That being said, though he’ll undoubtedly be able to come back from this current injury to suit up again, there’s a chance he chooses not to. Earlier this week, in an interview with Bill Plaschke, Kobe said some eye-opening things about his thought process when it comes to pondering retirement.
In a Los Angeles Times profile written by tenured sports journalist Bill Plaschke, Kobe admits that retirement is something that’s crossed his mind. “I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t crossed my mind. Right now I doubt it … but anything’s possible.”
He went on to say:
My body is hurting like crazy, around the clock, and if I don’t want to do this anymore, I won’t do it. I don’t care about the money. If I don’t feel like doing it, I won’t do it.
It isn’t a retirement declaration, but Kobe does vaguely sound like a soldier who is certainly able to do battle, but is starting to lose the taste for it. This is the third straight year his season will be cut short by a major injury, and over the past 5 seasons, he’s played in over 60 games just once. It might also behoove Kobe to take an honest, objective look at the Lakers’ outlook should he decide to spend this summer preparing for another go at it. The healthiest Kobe Bryant cannot single-handedly heal the plethora of issues facing the Lakers’ organization. In their desperation to find pieces to place around Bryant to help him claim a 6th NBA Championship–or at least make a run at it–the Lakers have decimated their roster, and a squad that once boasted a healthy balance of athleticism and veteran leadership (Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol) is now nothing more than a scrappy group of unproven recent 1st and 2nd round draft picks, most of whom have no playoff experience.
It’s also worth noting that the Western Conference has deepened almost exponentially since the last time the Lakers were contenders. The year they won their most recent title, 2010, the only other teams that could’ve legitimately represented the West in the Finals were the Mavericks and the Suns. This year, there are over 5 times that have a serious shot at playing for the Larry O’Brien trophy–Golden State, Memphis, L.A. Clippers, Houston, Oklahoma City, Dallas–and that’s not counting the Spurs, who seem to be saving their energy for a run at a repeat. Realistically, for the Lakers to reach the plateau these teams have reached would take time and a combination of marquee free agent signings or trades. Lakers brass certainly have some bank to play with, but time?
There isn’t a lot of it at Kobe’s disposal.
