The Lakers season for the most part, is a wrap. They will miss the playoffs again, and head into the offseason uncertain of what players they can put around Kobe Bryant for what could be his final NBA season.
Lakers head coach Byron Scott admitted to ESPN.com that he may have played Bryant too many minute to start the season.
“I talked to him this afternoon and told him he didn’t even have to come tonight but he wanted to come anyway,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said before the game. “It’s just my feeling that I wanted to give him another day of rest … If the legs are good and his body is pretty good and he’s not feeling any soreness or any stiffness or anything like that, then we’ll go from there.”
After Bryant sat out his second straight game and third in the past four on Sunday, Scott told ESPN.com that L.A. may consider shutting Kobe down for the remainder of the season after the All-Star break.
Bryant has now missed six of the team’s past 11 games to rest and has rarely practiced this season, but Scott said there have been no discussions about shutting down Bryant for the season yet.
“I haven’t thought about that yet,” Scott said. “I keep thinking about game-to-game right now. So I haven’t gotten to that point. Maybe after the All-Star break, maybe we will start talking about something like that if necessary.”
Scott says he’s not just thinking about this season, but making sure Bryant is healthy enough to play next season, the 20th of his career and final season of his current contract.
“He’s a basketball player that’s played a lot of years so I have to be a little concerned about that,” Scott said. “That’s the reason that I’m taking such precautionary measures and making sure he doesn’t play so many games. I want him to be right, not only for this season but for next season as well.”