On a rainy Thursday in Los Angeles, the LA Lakers received devastating news: Kobe Bryant suffered a fracture to his left knee and will be out for a minimum of six weeks.
With that, the team was shell-shocked, and suddenly, the Lakers’ stumbling season appeared to be a lost cause.
Bryant had returned only six games earlier from an Achilles injury before he suffered the fracture to his Lateral Tibial Plateau during the Lakers’ win in Memphis on Tuesday. In layman’s terms, he damaged his left knee in a severe manner. In typical Bryant fashion, he continued to play and finished the game.
However, Thursday’s MRI revealed the damage done.
“We’re running out of point guards -- that’s for sure,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said at Thursday’s practice. “That’s too bad. You hate it for Kobe (Bryant). He worked so hard getting back.”
The team was not in the best spirits, and practice featured a somber mood.
“Coach told us right after practice, and we didn’t take it too well,” Xavier Henry said.
Henry will be the Lakers’ new starting point guard. As a reminder, Henry had not played point guard since AAU basketball, but he was called upon to be the backup after Steve Nash and Jordan Farmar went down with injury.
With Steve Blake and Bryant both out injured, Henry is now the starting point guard. There is no backup.
“I’m happy to do what whatever we need to do,” Henry said.
Nick Young, who will likely play some point guard as well, described the news as “shocking.”
“No point guards, no Kobe, but we still got each other,” Young said. “We don’t want to say it’s a 'curse' because I’m playing that point too.”
In addition Bryant’s news, the Lakers also announced that Steve Nash would remain sidelined for another four weeks.
On second thought, "cursed" may be the perfect word to describe the Lakers right about now.
