Kobe Bryant to Nick Young: Reach on defense and get hurt

If you happened to miss it on Monday morning, Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young underwent thumb surgery for his torn ligament which he suffered during practice.

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It was a tough blow to both Young and the Lakers as the former USC talent is expected to miss 6-to-8 weeks, though he and Kobe Bryant seem to be having fun with the injury (as much as one can). Nick Young reportedly suffered the injury when he was guarding Bryant during practice and jokingly blamed Kobe for the injury, suggesting such on Instagram before his operation.

Of course Nick Young wasn’t being serious as both he and Kobe Bryant have unleashed verbal jabs on a variety of topics all offseason, though Kobe Bryant seems to have come out on top again.

Appearing on NBATV during their Real Training Camp series, Kobe Bryant suggested that Nick Young would avoid getting hurt if he didn’t reach for the ball.

“That’s a lesson to be learned. You reach, you’re going to get hurt.”

Somebody get some aloe for that burn, quickly.

The funny thing with Bryant, you never know if it’s truly a joke or if there’s a little bit of seriousness in there. Obviously Nick Young was just having fun at the expense of Bryant when he blamed the Black Mamba for the injury but Kobe Bryant’s response almost had a bit of truth to it. One might compare it to a fatherly figure giving a bit of advice to their teenager in a humorous way.

Regardless, it’s nice to see Kobe Bryant have a little bit of fun at this stage of his career instead of always being so adamant about practice being about basketball, basketball and more basketball.

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