Lakers Rumors: Kobe Bryant Injury Won't Force LA to Make Panic Move

The Los Angeles Lakers' offseason keeps getting worse with each passing day. The latest round of bad news hit on Wednesday when it was announced that Kobe Bryant had a torn ligament in his wrist, but he is not expected to miss a significant amount of time, and the team shouldn't feel more pressure to make a big trade. 

According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, Bryant is listed as day-to-day right now. The Lakers obviously need him to be healthy if they want to compete for a playoff spot, let alone a championship. 

But the fact of the matter is that these are not the same Lakers that we are accustomed to seeing. In his breakdown of all the NBA teams, John Hollinger of ESPN.com wrote that this team is tightening its purse strings. 

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Since the failed trade for Chris Paul, all indications are that they've basically gone into organizational hibernation—trimming an enormous payroll to something more restrained, banking their big three will be good enough to win games and sell tickets, and laughing all the way to the bank thanks to their enormous TV deal.

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There seems to be a movement that started with the fans and has carried over to the media to get the Lakers to deal Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, their two best players after Bryant, but that deal wouldn't necessarily make them a better team for this season. 

If anything, it could make them worse because they are trading great depth for one player. I know that Dwight Howard is great, but if you have a team built around him and Bryant with a bunch of spare parts, that is not going to make them a championship team. 

This season appears to be about the Lakers taking their first significant steps toward rebuilding their roster instead of reloading for another championship run. They can't make a panic move just to satisfy the fans who can't bear the thought of this team only making it to the playoffs. 

Age and depth was always going to be a problem for the Lakers this season, and the injury to Bryant has people more worried than ever about what is in store for them. But that can't be an excuse to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade. 

The Lakers had the right trade in place for Chris Paul, but extenuating circumstances prevented that deal from going through. But they did the smart thing by sitting back and not trying to take a lesser deal just because they were frustrated. 

They will be better off in the long-term hanging on to the assets they have—players and draft picks—and seeing what is out there as we move closer to the trade deadline. 

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