Not that it comes as any surprise but Kobe Bryant is going to attempt to go through this season without undergoing any kind of procedure on his injured wrist. Then again what is surprising these days? Not too much after seeing Tim Tebow shred the Pittsburgh Steelers. Given Kobe’s history this news is anything but surprising.
Mike Bresnahan states that Bryant’s best and only hope is not an option.
"Bryant’s wrist issues are apparently here to stay. He will not undergo the same procedure on his wrist that he had on his knee and ankle in Germany last year, for a variety of reasons."
Naturally those reasons include the fact that Bryant doesn’t have time to travel to Europe during the season and the procedure isn’t exactly endorsed in this country. Therefore flying a German doctor out to the States is also off limits.
So KB24 will play on.
Luckily for Bryant he’s never endured a significant injury. Oh, there have been plenty of painful moments in Kobe’s career. Moments that have looked much worse than they actually are yet are still restrictive none the less.
While Mamba has toughed out tender ankles, broken fingers and strained elbows he’s never torn a major muscle or suffered a significant break. For Kobe, playing through the pain is part of the plan. It’s what the job calls for when you’re driven to be great.
However there is no playing through a torn ligament in the knee.
Now a torn ligament in the wrist…that is a much different story.
At the moment we know how this story is starting. From past history we’ve also seen how this story tends to go. What we don’t know is how this one will end. Bryant is getting up in NBA years and he’s not slowing his roll at all given his wrist. Still attacking the hoop with reckless abandon. Still shooting Js from deep as if he weren’t pain by the mere motion.
So, expect the same questions to surface every night no matter how Kobe plays. He was already aggravated by that line of questioning before the season even began. How will Kobe respond in the future? Undoubtedly the same way he always does to injury or sickness – he’ll just suck it up and play on.