The Los Angeles Lakers are wrapping up a disastrous season on Wednesday night in San Antonio, and Kobe Bryant did not want to be around to witness it.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Bryant took off with his family for a vacation in France either Tuesday or Wednesday.

By contrast, Pau Gasol made the trip to San Antonio with the team even though he’s not playing because of his vertigo. Both players are considered team leaders.

Additionally, The Times says Bryant was heard muttering his unhappiness about being associated with such a bad season during the team photo.

Perhaps word of Kobe’s European excursion becoming news made it back to No. 24, because Bryant sent out this tweet expressing his attitude about dealing with the bad season:

S*** season. Flush it. Forget it #amnesia Next Season will be epic #blackout #bussfam

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 16, 2014

He’s right — that’s about all you can do. And, of course, the Lakers will hope to get a good draft pick and turn it into a winner.

But it’s hard not to view Kobe as a frontrunner after reading this.

Chest bump to Pro Basketball Talk

Kobe Bryant is not known as an injury-prone player, but when you’ve played in the league for 17 years and had deep runs in the postseason most of those times, you’re going to end up with a beat up body.

Over the past year, Bryant has suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon in his left ankle, and then he suffered a fracture in his knee after returning from the Achilles surgery.

As you can see in the graphic shown below, those are the most serious injuries he’s sustained during his career. The rest were mostly of the broken finger or sprained ankle variety:

That right leg RT @shahanLA All of Kobe Bryant's injuries in one incredible graphic… [ via @bill_oram ] pic.twitter.com/dwL8EnaT3Y

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 13, 2014

Another aspect about Bryant is that he is extremely tough and has an incredibly high pain tolerance. Tell him he’s going to miss six weeks, and he’ll be back in two. Tell him he’s out the next five games, and he won’t miss more than one. But there comes a time when fighting your way back from injury earlier than expected and pushing your body backfires, and this was one of those times.

When you’re 35, it’s hard to expect too much from your body. Father time always wins.

H/T @cjzero

Kobe Bryant will reportedly miss the remainder of the 2013-2014 season as he recovers from a knee fracture. The news was first reported on Wednesday by ESPN’s Chris Broussard. The team is expected to make an announcement later this week.

Bryant played in just six games this season after missing the first 19 games while recovering from Achilles surgery. He has been out since Dec. 17 with a fracture of the lateral tibial plateau in his knee. He signed a two-year, $48.5 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers back in November.

On Tuesday, Kobe did not sound all that optimistic about his rehab.

“It’s progressing slowly. It really tests my patience,” he said. ”There’s only so much I can do. I find myself relegated to a bike. The first few weeks, it’s cool. I’m getting a good workout in. Third or fourth, I’m thinking I need to do something else. I want to play. I want to run. I want to do something different. But you got to do what you got to do.”

Bryant was reportedly still experiencing pain and swelling in the knee as of last month. Team physician Dr. Steve Lombardo said at the time that Kobe would be reevaluated in three weeks, which would make sense given the latest news.

The Lakers are 22-42 and would require a miracle to make the playoffs. There’s simply no reason to rush Kobe back with the type of money the team invested in him earlier this season.