Lakers: Kobe Bryant’s Shooting Causing Rift in Locker Room

Kobe Bryant’s inefficient shooting is reportedly leading to problems in the Lakers’ locker room.

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night by a count of 107-93 at STAPLES Center. The same problems that have led to the Lakers’ 2-11 start persisted in the lost. The perimeter defense got absolutely torched, there was apprehension on the part of some of the young players, and the ball-movement was subpar yet again. One of the biggest offenders in regards to the lack of ball-movement was 37-year-old Kobe Bryant, who put up 22 shots on Sunday while hitting only six.

Bryant’s inefficient, high-volume shooting has been problematic for this Lakers team all season. However, the issue on the court of Kobe shooting too much is starting to bleed into the Lakers’ locker room.

After the loss to Portland, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported that a rift was forming in the team over head coach Byron Scott not publicly addressing the problem with Kobe:

While Scott has talked about the lack of ball-movement and how it leads to inefficient shots in the offense, he has seemingly avoided directly addressing the issue as it pertains to Bryant. When specifically asked about Kobe last night, this was the head coach’s answer:

Answers like that make Scott come off as a politician looking to get re-elected. The problem with that is a head coach can’t operate with that lack of authority. Just like a politician entering an election, Scott sounds like a guy who sees the problem, but can’t actually do anything to solve it or—even worse—that he doesn’t know how to deal with it.

Any time there is a growing issue within a locker room, it’s not an ideal situation for a professional basketball team. However, the problem in Los Angeles is amplified by the fact that this is a young team that is largely impressionable in regards to handling themselves as a professional. So when a coach is reluctant to call out a veteran player for something detrimental to the team’s success, that’s not good for the present and future of the team.

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There’s not much that Scott has done this season that can be construed as a positive for the Lakers. However, his averseness of attribute blame to Kobe is the most egregious error yet. Kobe has been awful this season and there’s no way around that. If Scott doesn’t directly address it soon, this team may reach a low that they can’t recover from in terms of their play and their chemistry.