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
