Kobe Bryant Wrist Injury: Why the Lakers Star Must Sit Out

Kobe Bryant is a polarizing figure, but there are certain things that are inarguable whatever your feeling about him is. He has a competitive fire that few have ever had and he is willing to play injured. 

That particular duality of traits is what has carried the Lakers to five championships under Kobe's leadership or semi-leadership.  Sometimes it works for him. On the other hand sometimes it works against him, as it did when he played through the finger injury on his shooting hand and missed shot after shot. 

Sometimes he can be more "Black Knight" from Monty Python than Black Mamba. 

He's not the best at deciding when to sit down because of that competitive fire burning in him. He always thinks he can do it—and that's great when he can, but he's not good at admitting when he can't. 

That's not a criticism, I can't emphasize that enough. If he weren't that way he wouldn't be Kobe. 

That not being criticism doesn't mean it's untrue though. Kobe, simply put, does not know when to shut it down. 

The reality of their situation is this. They have no Andrew Bynum for the first five games. Without Bynum, and because of the trade no Lamar Odom, the Lakers are going to be hard pressed to win more than two of those five games regardless of whether they have an injured Kobe Bryant or not. 

The difference between an injured Kobe and no Kobe is not the same as the difference between a healthy Kobe and no Kobe. The former could be the difference between winning and losing to elite teams—even sans Bynum, the latter, not so much. 

Kobe Bryant isn't playing "hurt" if he plays, he's playing "injured," and that's different. This isn't something you "play through." You just play deeper and deeper into it. The only way it gets better is to stop playing. 

This is not Kobe playing with pain, it's Kobe playing with a torn ligament in his wrist. Biologically, that's going to affect his shot. This is not a "mind over matter" type of thing. There are physiological realities to contend with. His shot will be affected. 

He was even dribbling and shooting left handed in the last practice. Flash to the Black Night switching hands yelling, "Tis but a scratch!" whilst his right arm lies on the ground. 

Doing it a bit in practice isn't the same as doing it in a game. A left-handed Kobe Bryant isn't going to be the same. 

Essentially the Lakers have two worst case scenarios. Either they lose their first five games with Kobe or they lose their first five without Kobe. Yes, they could win one or two either way, but realistically that's about the most they are going to do in the present scheme of things. 

Take the two best players off of any team, and it's unlikely they are going to be competitive with the elite teams. 

What happens after that can be very different though. They can reintroduce a healthy Kobe and an unsuspended Andrew Bynum and run off five straight wins and be right back in the thick of things, or they can still have a left-handed Kobe Bryant no closer to being healthy and continue to lose. 

Essentially, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. Long term, the Lakers are going to get into the playoffs but what will they do when they get there? It's going to depend largely on how Kobe is feeling and plodding one handed through the condensed schedule isn't going to get him to the playoffs feeling good.

He needs to rest up, get better and when he is, lead the Lakers to a playoff run at 100 percent.