Los Angeles Lakers Getting Early Glimpse of Ugly Life After Kobe Bryant

With Kobe Bryant’s latest injury, the Los Angeles Lakers are getting a closer look at life beyond their longtime star. So far, it’s looking pretty ugly.

Bryant, 36, suffered a torn rotator cuff Jan. 21 during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans. He’ll have surgery Wednesday, and he will miss the remainder of the season, as relayed by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

There have been plenty of other chances to imagine life without Bryant. He played just six games last season as the Lakers fell to 27-55, their worst loss record in franchise history.

This season, Bryant’s comeback lasted 35 games. Of those, 27 were played in a row. Over the next 16 games, Kobe was eight on, eight off as he periodically rested due to the wear and tear on his body.

During that time, the Lakers roster has gone through a series of lineup changes, with new coach Byron Scott searching for ways to find something, anything, that can get his team back on track.

Adding to the strange dynamic this season has been speculation that the team might be better without its five-time champion. After the Lakers won their first game without Bryant—over West-leading Golden State Warriors on Dec. 23—ESPN Los Angeles' Baxter Holmes observed:

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But underlying the Lakers’ biggest win of the season was the notion that has been floating around for a while, one heavily supported by advanced statistics. So far this season, the numbers indicate that the Lakers have performed better when Bryant is off the court versus when he is on it.

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Scott wasn’t buying the theory, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “Anybody that really insinuated that we're better without him, it's ridiculous. We're a much better team when he's on the basketball floor. Period.”

To punctuate that point, the Lakers have lost nine out of 10 games played without Bryant since then. The team is a mess and, at 12-34, is on track to have an even worse record than last season.

Scott used the same starting lineup for the first 20 games of the season before the changes started hitting the fan.

Carlos Boozer forfeited his starting position to Ed Davis, who recently lost it to Jordan Hill, who shifted over from center to power forward. Jeremy Lin lost his job to Ronnie Price and then got it back for just one game before earning a DNP for the first time in three years.

Meanwhile, Wesley Johnson gave up his starting small forward position to second-year stretch 4 Ryan Kelly, Wayne Ellington is gamely trying to fill the void left by Bryant at shooting guard and second-round rookie Jordan Clarkson has become the Lakers' latest starting point guard.

Clarkson is showing exactly what you would expect from a developing prospect with plenty of potential—he’s eager to score, pressing too hard and learning on the job.

Tuesday night provided a glimmer of light, however, as L.A. hosted the Washington Wizards and were up by as many as 19 points in the second quarter. Washington eventually closed the gap and claimed the win, but Ellington and Clarkson each posted career highs, with 28 and 18 points respectively.

Scant silver linings aside, being deprived of wins has had its obvious negative effects on players, such as Sunday’s loss against the Houston Rockets in which Nick “Swaggy P” Young—the most dependable ray of sunshine in a relentlessly gloomy season—took just two shots in the first half, missing both, and was then benched for the remainder of the game.

Afterward, Scott said, per Lakers.com: “He looked to me, to be honest, that he didn’t want to be here…I just felt, with his body language, that he didn’t want to play tonight. So I chose not to play him.”

The following day after practice, Young said, per Lakers.com: “Losing can catch up to you. I’m still a human being, I’m still going out there and trying to fight, but at the same time, you get tired of getting beat up, and it can catch up to you."

That same practice resulted in a moderate sprained ankle for Young after Clarkson landed on it. 

And so the season plods on, made even worse by the absence of Bryant, a fading franchise star who has one year left on his contract after this season.

Also on the sidelines are prized draft-lottery pick Julius Randle, who had the mind-boggling bad luck to break his leg in his NBA debut, and future Hall of Famer Steve Nash, who was declared out for the entirety of his final contracted season in Los Angeles with back and nerve root issues.

Nash hasn’t bothered showing up at the Lakers facilities since the regular season began.

It’s just not a good time for the Purple and Gold.

The ripple effect of injuries, inconsistent individual efforts and a generally weak roster has resulted in a team second only to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the worst defense in the league, giving up 106.1 points per game.

L.A.’s offense is only marginally better—ranked 19th at 99.3 points per game. The Lakers rank 22nd in assists, and if you’re looking for some signs of hope, they are the definition of middling when it comes to rebounds, ranking 15th, per ESPN.

This is a team in transition, and the idea was to develop an affordable core group of supporting players, draft some future stars, sign a meaningful free agent or two and perhaps acquire more talent by trade.

The roster that would rise from that relatively quick makeover would then surround Bryant for one last glorious stand.

But No. 24 suffered yet another serious injury, leaving the team in an unsure state of flux similar to last season, with few guaranteed contracts, some money to spend going forward and theoretically a plan of action.

As the second half of an ugly season gets underway, faithful fans can only watch and hope—that young prospects will develop into solid contributors and that the latest head coach will show a surer touch than he has so far.

They hope that Nick Young reclaims his swag and gives everyone a show and management demonstrates objectives that are more than pipe dreams.

And the most fragile desire of all, that Kobe Bryant—so beaten down by Father Time—will return in a supernova blaze of glory for his 20th NBA season and leave us all with a beautiful memory.