Lakers' Bryant shutdown 'til 2014-15 Season

Earlier today, Laker fans were given the news nobody wants to hear regarding their team's star player when news broke that Kobe Bryant's 2013-14 campaign would come to a premature end. The 16-time All-Star who missed all but six games this season for the injury-rattled Lakers while batting ailments of his own, was officially shutdown for the remainder of the season on Wednesday, a joint decision made by Bryant and team doctors. Kobe, the franchises' all-time scoring-leader who signed a 2-year, $48.5 Million extension back in November,  has been out since December 17 while nursing a fractured left knee that has healed much slower than anticipated. 

Eight months after going under the knife to repair a torn Achilles tendon suffered last April, Bryant was forced to miss the first 19 games of the season which led to the highly anticipated return that would last only six games before the Black Mamba was once again bit by the injury bug and forced back on the shelf. In the small sample size we got to see Kobe on the court, each game saw him get better than the last. After being given very little time to shake off the cobwebs, Bryant averaged 13.8 points, 6.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and a 42.5 shooing percentage, statistically the worst season of his career despite still being voted by fans into the NBA All-Star Game. Whether or not Kobe would've been game ready before the end of the regular season, a return this late in the year with the Lakers this far behind in the standings would make virtually no sense and would do more harm than good. Though it's never positive news when your star player is ruled out for the year, it could be in L.A.'s case.

With the Lakers unofficially in full on tank mode, Bryant's return at this point in the season would not only jeopardize his career in what's been a lost season but it would also hurt his team's draft stock. In what's been a historically bad season for the purple and gold who sit tied for the worst record in the Western Conference at 22-42 and will miss the playoffs for only the sixth time since 1948, the team's best bet at this point is to continue losing in hopes of improving their chances in the NBA Draft lottery. With this year's draft class regarded as the best in quite some time and expected to showcase the talent of many future star players, rebuilding from the ground up might be general manager Mitch Kupchak's best way to construct a winning team for the long haul as father time has seem to have caught up to the team's franchise player who has 18 years under his belt and will celebrate his 36th Birthday in August. 

With all eyes now on the start of the 2014-15 season as the expected timetable for Kobe's return, the questions of whether or not he can return to the All-Star caliber player he once was will begin to form. But regardless of his critics, nobodies expectations of Kobe will be as lofty as his own. 


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