One night after sitting out the Lakers’ Christmas Day matchup against the Bulls in Chicago, Kobe Bryant will miss his third straight game on Friday night in Dallas. From ESPNDallas.com:
In Chicago, Bryant addressed reporters and said that, as much as he wants to play in every game, he has to be smart about his body. It’s not a surprise that he’s having these troubles—even if he wasn’t coming off of two major leg injuries, he’s in his 19th season as a pro, with most of those years involving deep playoff runs, plus two gold-medal runs with Team USA in the Summer Olympics, in 2008 and 2012.
Kobe Bryant is sitting out his third straight game to rest his sore body, missing the Lakers’ matchup Friday night at Dallas.
Bryant was sidelined Tuesday night when Los Angeles beat NBA-leading Golden State, then again Christmas night at Chicago. The game against the Mavericks was the third in four nights for the Lakers.
The 36-year-old Bryant has said his knees, feet, back and Achilles tendons are all sore.
In Chicago, Bryant addressed reporters and said that, as much as he wants to play in every game, he has to be smart about his body. It’s not a surprise that he’s having these troubles—even if he wasn’t coming off of two major leg injuries, he’s in his 19th season as a pro, with most of those years involving deep playoff runs, plus two gold-medal runs with Team USA in the Summer Olympics, in 2008 and 2012.
Hopefully this rest will allow Bryant to play most of his remaining games this year and next, but it sounds like he’s realizing that he’s on his last legs and wanting to maximize the tail end of a Hall of Fame career.