Injuries have cut short Kobe Bryant’s last three seasons with the latest being the torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder suffered in a loss in New Orleans last week. Monday he got a second opinion on the injury which confirmed the tear and now Bryant will have surgery to repair it on Wednesday.
“Rehab for a surgically repaired rotator cuff takes between four to six months,” said Dr. Alan Byer in a phone interview Monday. Byers, an orthopedic specialist at the Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine California, said that time frame for rehabilitation is typical with this sort of injury which is usually associated with baseball pitchers.
Bryant came back from a torn Achilles tendon and a fractured knee enduring long rehabilitation in both cases. Now at 36 years of age, he finds himself with another long and sometimes painful rehabilitation process to get back on the court. Retirement is also a consideration for the 19-year Lakers veteran. That would mean leaving $25 million on the table he is scheduled to make next season.
“I don’t see Kobe as the kind of guy that wants to leave his legacy on these terms,” Lakers Coach Byron Scott said Monday. “I think he wants to go out on his own terms.”
Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw – Bryant’s ex-teammate with the Lakers and later a Lakers assistant under Phil Jackson – weighed in on if Kobe can and will come back from this latest setback. To see Shaw’s comments click on the video with this story.
Bryant played 35 games and made $23.5 million this season, averaging 22.3 points but shooting a career-worst 37.3 percent, well below his career average of 45.4 percent coming into the season.
Kobe is expected to be around the Lakers training facility to help the team and will be quite active in recruiting up-coming free agents to play in L.A. next season, presumably Bryant’s last, to try to make one last playoff run and go after a sixth championship.
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