Kobe Bryant says he won’t play Friday; could return Sunday
By Josh Sanchez
There has been plenty of speculation about when Los Angeles Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant will return to the court from his torn Achilles tendon and Friday was pegged as the potential date for his return.
However, Bryant has ruled himself out of Friday’s game, but he said that he could be returning on Sunday when the Lakers take on the Toronto Raptors.
From Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles:
"Kobe Bryant has ruled himself out for the Los Angeles Lakers’ road game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday, the 18-year veteran told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday.While Bryant won’t be making his long-awaited return from Achilles surgery against the Kings, after two consecutive days of practices, Bryant said he is moving into game-to-game territory when considering his comeback. Meaning, playing in the Lakers’ home game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday is still a possibility for Bryant.“It feels that way,” Bryant said at the launch event for his new Nike “Kobe 9″ signature sneaker at the MOCA in downtown Los Angeles. “It feels pretty good. This is the second day now that I’ve been able to get out there and move around and play and play pretty well and it felt like I could do anything that I wanted to do out there on the floor, so, we progress to (Thursday). On to tomorrow. Let’s see if I can go three days straight and then have another hard workout on Friday and kind of measure it accordingly.”"
Los Angeles has been inconsistent on the court without their star guard, so his return will provide an obvious boost to their performance.
If Bryant can return to form and play at the level he was at just a season ago before the injury, things could be looking up for the Lakers quickly.