Kobe Bryant has suffered several major injuries in recent seasons but the biggest pain he’s experiencing now is the sting of criticism. The longtime Lakers superstar has been struggling mightily with his shooting and coach Byron Scott is getting bombarded with questions and critiques regarding what he should do about it.
Bryant is shooting a career worst 31.1% from the field and 19.5% from 3-point range. Just this week, Bryant matched the worst shooting performance of his career by going 1 for 14 from the field against the Warriors. Bryant, as always, remains supremely confident in his ability and says he’s not concerned about his shooting slump.
Scott has held firm that Bryant will come around. Scott indicated this week that he has no plans to cut down on the veteran small forward’s minutes. When asked on Friday if he might bench Bryant for poor play, Scott shot back that he would “never, never, never” do that.
However, there’s a strong argument that removing Bryant from the rotation would help the Lakers in the long run. Bryant won’t be around when lottery picks Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell hit their prime, so having him play such a prominent role — especially at the offensive end — does nothing to facilitate their development and chemistry.
On the flip side, Bryant has given so much to the franchise that it’s hard to shove him to the end of the bench. Bryant doesn’t seem interested in finishing his career somewhere else and his contract is so huge that even if he agreed to a trade, it would be hard to move him. He’s also still a huge fan favorite and a draw. Love him or hate him, people still like to see him play.
This leads us to our question of the day: Should the Lakers reduce Kobe Bryant’s minutes or even bench him?
We’d love to hear your thought on this subject. Please be aware of our commenting policy and use the comments section below to give us your opinion.
Kobe is the best he should never be benched and should play at least 40 minutes
buy him out or substantially reduce his minutes.
20 mins per game is more than enough for a retirement tour.
If we wants to play, let him play. He’s on the team no matter what, the time to trade him has long passed. Any displeasure he has from getting a reduced role will only hurt the chemistry of a young developing team. The Lakers aren’t going anywhere, they’d be better off with a happy Bryant mentoring the young guns. He has already been pushed over to small forward and he really isn’t blocking anyone at that position to my knowledge. If he goes to the bench, then most likely Nick Young will take over the SF spot, and he’s a fairly known quantity at this point in his career, you couldn’t really increase his value by giving him the minutes, and he;d be taking just as many shots as Bryant (he would likely hit more however, but everyone knows this guy can put up points on bad teams, if he played 36 minutes a night and averaged 19 a game he still wouldn’t have increased his trade value all that much). Your better off just letting Bryant play, and hopefully he retires after the season. This is a team in a full rebuild no matter what.
I agree. L.A. is all about stars and attractions. Kobe gives the fans a reason to show up.
Funny how everyone is bagging on Kobe after 14 games. Please go back 20 years and count the number of games he has done well in, while you are at it count the number of championships. He has earned every minute that he is playing. Respect.
Reminds me of Derek Jeter’s last season. Should he have been hitting second and starting at SS everyday? Probably not but he earned the right to go out on his own terms. Kobe has too.
Makes sense in a Hinkie way to continue playing Kobe as much as possible. Lakers pick is only top 3 protected. Kobe is helping the Lakers to hold on to their pick this year.
we all know that kobe just got back from unwanted vacation due to injuries not just an injury but major injuries. now what good will it do to lessen or bench him because of his poor shooting why dont we treat him as a new comer just like what most of you would like to happen to russ and the rest of the guys to develop. None of the new guys are even consistent even lou or hibbert for that matter yet we all wanted them to have more playing time to develop.it would be so unfair for kobe if you lessen his playing time since he is also on a developing stage of his comeback career. Guarding wise kobe is much consistent inhis defence unlike the othes specially swaggy p who is never a reliable player ever since
Nice to see a lively debate on this topic. Certainly, a lot of Kobe fans out there, as well as others who believe the future is now. It’s bound to be a hot-button issue throughout the season.