Kobe Bryant Suffers Scary Injury: Do Courtside Fans Need to Take a Step Back?

After shooting a drifting jumper in the left corner, Kobe Bryant lost his footing and slid onto the floor. Chris Paul answered with a three-pointer, and Ron Artest hit a 44-foot heave, but the Black Mamba lay wounded on the ground.

While sliding onto the floor, Kobe slid into the edge of a courtside seat where he banged the back of his neck onto the corner of an empty chair. A resilient warrior down for the count, Bryant laid lifeless on the ground, squirming and clinching the back of his neck while the entire Lakers organization rushed to his side. Playing through more injuries than most active NBA players, Kobe got up and hobbled his way into the locker room.

The silence was broken and followed by a standing ovation from the loyal Staples Center crowd.

This prevalent concern among NBA stadiums and arenas seems to have reached an all-time risk level. With the health of the best player in the NBA being put in jeopardy, it's time for the fans to take a step back and move their courtside seats a few more feet away from the sidelines.

Night-in and night-out, players dive into the crowd to save loose balls, putting both the health of the players and the fans at risk. Had Kobe hit the back of his head or his spine on the corner of the seat, the situation could have been completely different.

The resolution?

Move the courtside seats five feet back or take one row of courtside seats out and move them back. The fewer seats there are, the higher the prices can be. This will help the revenue of the arenas as well as the general well being of both the fans and the players. Kobe's near freak accident should be a signal to Commissioner David Stern to do something about the situation before something worse happens.