Kobe Bryant Jokes That Passing Too Much Caused His Shoulder Injury

It seems like Kobe Bryant may have strayed a bit too far outside of his comfort zone.

Searching for a way to spark the point guard-starved Los Angeles Lakers this season, the Mamba placed a premium on passing. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Bryant cited the change in approach as the cause of his recent shoulder injury:

The scoring guard injured his right shoulder during the second half of Wednesday's 96-80 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. The injury occurred as Bryant slammed down a dunk from the baseline.

"I felt fine when I went up, didn't feel too good when I came down," Bryant said after the game, per Mark Medina of the LA Daily News.

The Lakers later released a statement saying that an MRI exam had revealed a torn rotator cuff, per Lakers.com's Mike Trudell. Bryant is scheduled to undergo further testing, which will help determine the severity of the injury and build a timetable for his return.

The shoulder, which Bryant told reporters has "been bothering me for a while," was actually first injured during the preseason, sources told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne:

The Lakers, likely headed to their second consecutive losing season for the first time in more than two decades, now have some difficult questions to answer going forward.

Bryant hasn't just been their franchise face, he's also been their most productive player. By far. He leads the team in scoring (22.3 points), assists (5.6) and minutes (34.5).

Granted, there could be some concerns raised about leaning on a player this heavily with as much mileage as Bryant has logged. Lakers coach Byron Scott even apologized for the heavy burden he placed on Bryant at the beginning of the season, and the Mamba sent back some forgiveness, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:

Given Bryant's competitive nature, it's hard to imagine he minded the workload.

With Mamba out of the picture for the foreseeable future, the Lakers are going to struggle to find any reliable options to replace those statistics, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

With only top-five protection on the 2015 first-rounder it owes the Phoenix Suns, the rebuilding club really shouldn't be chasing victories. And with Bryant still around for (presumably) at least one more season, the Lakers could have multiple reasons to sit their star the rest of the way, regardless of what further testing reveals.

As for Bryant's take on the cause of his ailment? It's a pretty spectacular approach.

"That is brilliant," Yahoo Sports' Kelly Dwyer wrote of Bryant's tweet. "And perfect Kobe—a self-aware joke, an endorsement, hashtags and thanks."

It's a reflection of Bryant's historically quick trigger, but it's also a platform for him to show that he's been finding other ways to help this team outside of scoring. Over his last eight games, he averaged 8.1 assists. That's more than three assists per game better than his 4.8 career average.

It's also good to hear that his spirit is up. Considering what he's dealt with the past few seasons—a torn Achilles in April 2013, a fracture in his left knee that December—no one could blame him if he felt a little bitter about his plight.

But he's taking it all in stride, and that's the best possible thing basketball fans can see in a situation like this.

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