Have we seen the end of Kobe Bryant?

Two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant went down. It looked as if he just slipped but Lakers fans soon found out it was much worse. Kobe rose to his feet and asked Harrison Barnes if he had “kicked” him. Harrison said “no” and Kobe immediately knew he had torn his achilles. This for those of you that have experienced this injury before know how dreading and horrendous this injury actually is. Could this be the end of Kobe’s career?

I have been a huge Kobe fan ever since he came into the NBA as a 17 year old teen. Kobe Bryant is and always has been one of if not the biggest workout warrior the NBA has seen since Jordan. With that said, it can be assumed that Kobe will try and come back to the league as fast as possible to try and win another ring. This brings up some interesting points. Those points being: should he come back that early? Will this push or hurt his chances of playing longer? Will he ever be the same player that he was before the injury?

First point, I honestly believe Kobe should take all the time possible to come back. He should not try and be ready for the beginning of the season because if anything it will derail the rest of his career. The achillies is no joke and it will affect his game for the rest of however long he plays. When you injure something like that, you become scared to jump off your leg or put any type of pressure on it.

Others may ask if this long break, while it looks like a bad thing, might be a blessing in disguise. His knees and body has endured torture throughout his career and this break might be just that, a nice break. Even with this break, however, he will never be the same player that he was. He will come close because of the effort and training he will put in. But he will never be the same.

The problem with Kobe is that he does not want people to see him not be elite. This is why I believe that he will come back next year, whenever that my be, and retire the year after. Kobe can easily continue playing after he comes back and average 18-20 points but he would not be ok with that. As much as it hurts me to say this, I guess Kobe will never be able to catch Jordan in rings. Regardless, what a career.

P.S. If you do not follow Kobe on any type of social media. Go out and follow him because he is hilarious.

---

Lindrit Shkodra is originally from Diber, Macedonia but lives in Maple Shade, NJ. He is a freshman in the Sports Management program and is currently the General Understudy of the Drexel Sports Management Student Union. On the weekends he works at the Wegmans in Mount Laurel and on the weekdays he interns with Ron Jaworski’s Celebrity Golf Challenge.  Follow Lindrit on Twitter @LindritShkodra.

Connect with Lindrit Shkodra on LinkedIn.