It has been one tough season for the Los Angeles Lakers and their fans – suffering loss after loss and sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. However, there was a little beam of hope – the hope that Kobe Bryant is still able to compete on a high level, despite his suffered injuries and age. It was also thought that the Mamba’s good plays on the court will help the Lakers lure a big-name free agent in the offseason. Nevertheless, even that small beam of hope has gone – Kobe Bryant tore a rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
Kobe suffered the injury after he soared for two-handed dunk in the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans, but stayed in the game after that. In a post-game interview he stated that he thinks it’s a minor injury. Nevertheless, he was quite wrong. It’s serious injury to his shooting hand which may eventually be even a season-ending one. The fact that Bryant may yet again miss a large amount of a season hurts badly the Lakers chances in free agency this summer. It was thought that Kobe has put the injuries behind him and therefore will be able to compete at a high level at least one more season after the 2014-15 campaign. However, this setback may ruin whatever hopes the Lakers had to sign Marc Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Goran Dragic or Greg Monroe. Kobe is still the face of the franchise and he was the one that was going to recruit all those stars in the summer, but with this injury who will be willing to risk everything and go to the Lakers?
Bryant may soon undergo surgery if the injury is more serious and it is possible to miss 4 to 6 months. If it’s only a partial tear, the recovery time is about 2-6 weeks. Even if it is a partial tear, it is very possible that Kobe may not be back on the court this season, which would be a huge loss for the Lakers and their fans.
NBA News: Kobe Bryan suffers should injury, may be out of the season
No comments:
Post a Comment