Lakers coach Byron Scott was asked of the possibility of benching Kobe Bryant due to his struggles so far this season and he made it clear that the Lakers will have to figure it out with Kobe on the court.
“I would never, never, never do that,” Scott said after practice at the Lakers’ facility. “That’s not an option whatsoever. No, that’s not an option.”
It’s amazing that the media would feel comfortable asking a question like that about Kobe but unfortunately in sports, we are all guilty of having the mindset of “what have you done for me lately?” and Kobe has been struggling shooting a career low from the field and from 3-point range. His bad performance against the Warriors fueled more debates on if he should retire but I agree with Byron Scott about not benching Kobe.
The Lakers gave Kobe a two-year $48.5M, some might argue it was a thank you contract for his achievement with the Lakers but at this point you have to ride it out. The same media advocating for Kobe to be benched would be scrutinizing how he reacts at practice, during games and couldn’t wait for the postgame quotes creating more chaos for a roster which is simply not ready to compete in the West.
Byron Scott was on the Lakers’ roster when Kobe was a rookie and they developed a relationship throughout the years so they were asking the wrong person about benching him. Byron Scott would not put that kind of embarrassment on him and Kobe deserves a better exit to a franchise he brought 5 championships to not to mention he came back from a devastating achilles injury. They could gamble and bench him and bet on Kobe’s pride to retire on the spot but they would be the bad guys in that situation.
This is actually a better set up for the Lakers organization, if Kobe decides to come back despite struggling like this all season, no fan would hold it against them if they decide to detach themselves for the aging legend. Lakers are not winning a title whether or not they have Kobe on the court so offering Kobe Bryant a goodbye season this year is a benefit for them as a PR move.
As basketball fans, we will just have to hope Kobe listens to his body and enjoy retirement as one of the greatest to ever play the game and luckily for him we won’t even remember his last season.