The Los Angeles Lakers suffered yet another blowout on Sunday with a 16-point loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first game of a three-game road trip. Although Kobe Bryant came out firing scoring 14 points in the first quarter, the five-time NBA champion sat out the entire second quarter.
Apparently, along with persistent soreness in his right shoulder, Bryant is also dealing with a sore knee, according to head coach Byron Scott via Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:
Kobe's knee has bothered him the last day or two, Byron said. Didn't seem serious but obviously not desirable for Kobe.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) December 28, 2015
Ever since the beginning of the 2015-16 NBA season, Bryant has been dealing with trying to get his body right to be able to make an impact on the basketball floor. Kobe struggled out of the gate to get back up to speed while dealing with the leg injury suffered in the preseason as well as soreness in his surgically repaired right shoulder.
Fortunately, Bryant’s knees haven’t been a problem until now. It is uncertain how serious his knee issue is at this point, but he did only play 24 minutes in the loss to Memphis on Sunday.
In the 24 minutes played, Kobe scored 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the floor while grabbing two rebounds and dishing out three assists.
The Lakers will hit the road once again on Monday with the team set to play the Charlotte Hornets in the second game of the back-to-back. If Bryant’s knee continues to bother him, his status may be uncertain for the matchup against the Hornets.
Bryant did say he’d be ready to go when the time comes to play tomorrow, but he may want to save his energy for his last game in Boston against the Celtics on Wednesday.