Kobe Bryant is coming off of one of his worst performances ever in the Lakers’ loss to the Warriors, but don’t expect his role to diminish
Kobe Bryant was a disaster for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 34-point loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. While the Lakers as a unified body struggled and showed a sincere lack of effort, Kobe’s abysmal performance spoke the loudest. The 37-year-old stopped the ball as frequently as ever and did so to shoot 1-14 from the floor and 1-7 from long-range.
It’s been clear since the start of the regular season that Bryant performing as a high-volume shooter in the Lakers offense isn’t an effective strategy for this team, especially when he’s doing so with shocking inefficiency.
However, Kobe’s role hasn’t changed a bit in light of his struggles and detriment to the team. He’s still second on the team in minutes per game and leads the team in usage percentage (save for Robert Sacre with a whopping four minutes logged this season) and that’s apparently not going to change. After Lakers practice on Wednesday, head coach Byron Scott spoke on Kobe’s role:
Lakers coach Byron Scott says he hasn't considered reducing Kobe Byrant's role or minutes.
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) November 25, 2015
It’s easy to skewer Scott for his lack of leadership and adjustments, particularly regarding Bryant. However, Scott’s lack of consideration coupled with his other recent comments seems indicative of a larger problem: Kobe has the Lakers held hostage.
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There’s a growing uneasiness that ruminates out of the Lakers locker room with each passing game and practice. Bryant’s teammates seem to feel like they can’t specifically address the issues that Kobe is causing and how Scott has handled the situation only echoes that sentiment. The talk of privilege and earning the right to play in the manner as he has only paints Kobe as Teflon at the expense of the rest of the team and success.
When Scott says that he hasn’t even considered changing Kobe’s role, it’s 100 percent believable. Why consider something when you know that, be it because of pressure from the front office or simply intimidation from Bryant himself, it’s not a realistic option?
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The locker room in Los Angeles is becoming increasingly toxic and, no matter what he’s done in his previous 19 seasons with the Lakers, it’s becoming clearer by the day that Kobe is patient zero for that toxicity. The question now is whether Scott, the front office, and the Lakers choose to remedy that going forward or rather just let this tumultuous season continue before showing Kobe the door.