Kobe Bryant is back to practicing at full speed this week, and while many hoped that would mean a return to real game action as soon as Friday on the road against the Kings in Sacramento, Bryant himself said on Wednesday that wouldn’t be the case.
Speaking to many reporters one-on-one at the unveiling of his latest signature sneaker from Nike at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, Bryant confirmed that Friday would not be his first game back from the Achilles injury that he suffered near the end of last season.
From Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles:Kobe Bryant has ruled himself out for the Los Angeles Lakers’ road game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday, the 18-year veteran told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday.
While Bryant won’t be making his long-awaited return from Achilles surgery against the Kings, after two consecutive days of practices, Bryant said he is moving into game-to-game territory when considering his comeback. Meaning, playing in the Lakers’ home game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday is still a possibility for Bryant.
“It feels that way,” Bryant said at the launch event for his new Nike “Kobe 9" signature sneaker at the MOCA in downtown Los Angeles. “It feels pretty good. This is the second day now that I’ve been able to get out there and move around and play and play pretty well and it felt like I could do anything that I wanted to do out there on the floor, so, we progress to (Thursday). On to tomorrow. Let’s see if I can go three days straight and then have another hard workout on Friday and kind of measure it accordingly.”
Exactly how Bryant emerges from those consecutive days of practice will determine whether or not he’s ready to return to action. The Lakers have fared surprisingly well while he’s been out, posting a .500 record of 9-9 through the team’s first 18 games of the season.
Bryant’s return will be disruptive initially for a variety of reasons. But once he gets back into the flow and acclimates to his new teammates who are playing fully immersed in Mike D’Antoni’s system, it will be of league-wide interest to see if Bryant can have enough of an impact to push the Lakers into the playoff picture in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.
