Fansided

Kobe Bryant Plans to Return to Los Angeles Lakers for Season Opener

By Josh Hill

April 12, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti and center Robert Sacre (50) help shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) as leaves the game in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at the Staples Center. Bryant suffered a torn Achilles tendon. He under went surgery April 13 and is expected to miss six to nine months. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
April 12, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti and center Robert Sacre (50) help shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) as leaves the game in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at the Staples Center. Bryant suffered a torn Achilles tendon. He under went surgery April 13 and is expected to miss six to nine months. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
April 12, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti and center Robert Sacre (50) help shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) as leaves the game in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at the Staples Center. Bryant suffered a torn Achilles tendon. He under went surgery April 13 and is expected to miss six to nine months. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
April 12, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti and center Robert Sacre (50) help shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) as leaves the game in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at the Staples Center. Bryant suffered a torn Achilles tendon. He under went surgery April 13 and is expected to miss six to nine months. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

Medical science has come an incredibly long way over the last ten years, as a once career altering ACL injury has become nothing more than an inconvenience in the careers of today’s superstar players. Adrian Peterson will forever be known for the way he came off of his ACL injury and other players who have suffered once debilitating injuries are coming back sooner and sometimes better than ever.

According to EPSN Los Angeles, that’s the plan for Kobe Bryant as he’s eyeing the start of next basketball season as the date he’ll return. Not around the season opener — on the season opener.

This will raise plenty of eyebrows as Kobe will be attempting to come off of an Achilles tear that required surgery and kept him out of the Lakers short run in the postseason this year. Bryant now has six weeks of rehab completed and has been out of a cast, and the Lakers superstar is hoping that this is just a minor hiccup in the twilight of his career.

“I hope so,” Bryant said to ESPN LosAngeles. “That’s the challenge. With the tendon, there’s really only but so much you can do. There’s a certain amount of time that they deem necessary for the tendon to heal where you don’t overstretch it and now you never get that spring back.”

The Lakers need Bryant back, especially if their roster sees significant turnover this offseason. The biggest question mark surrounds Dwight Howard as he’s already been batting his lashes at the Houston Rockets and others and vice versa. Free agency doesn’t open until July 1st but Bryant is giving Lakers fans something positive to think about while most still stew in the aftermath of a lost season of promise.

Home/Los Angeles Lakers