Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant had surgery on Saturday afternoon to repair the torn Achilles tendon in his left leg and is expected to need six to nine months to recover, the team announced.
“When something like this happens, everybody wants to know why and there’s not always a reason why. If you look at our season, it’s been a nightmare,” longtime trainer Gary Vitti said after Lakers practice Saturday. “We had a player come in with a surgery, which was Dwight Howard. Then we had Steve Nash break his leg. Then we had Steve Blake have an abdominal surgery. Then we had Jordan Hill with a hip surgery. Then we had Metta (World Peace) with a knee surgery. We also had Dwight with a (torn) labrum in his shoulder. Antawn Jamison will have surgery after the season is over on his wrist. So, when you try to look at the whys, it’s bad luck.”
Vitti said Bryant would be immobilized for at least a month after surgery. If Bryant were to recover on the short end of the six-to-nine month timetable the team provided, he might be able to play at the start of the 2013-14 season.
“That’s the plan,” Vitti said.
Bryant told Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak as much.
“Speaking to him this morning, that certainly was his goal,” Kupchak said. “I think it would be aggressive to think he could be ready for training camp … (but for the season opener) I think that’s a goal. I think that’s a realistic goal for him.”
Pau Gasol had full confidence in Bryant’s ability to achieve his goal.
“He’s a guy that when you put something in front of him, he will get it done,” said Gasol, who sent Bryant a text message with his support. “He will do it. He will put everything he’s got on the line for it.”
Bryant’s injury was described as a “complete rupture” by Vitti.
“It’s gone,” Vitti said. “So, it has to be sewn back together.”
Kupchak visited with Bryant at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic prior to the surgery and said the 34-year-old guard was in great spirits.
“He actually gave a message to me to pass on to the guys on the team, most of which I can’t share with you right here (laughing), but it was a positive message as you might imagine,” Kupchak said. “Very motivational.”
Howard had a message of his own to impart in Bryant’s absence, addressing the team after practice.
“I just told them that they put this team together for a reason and we all know how to play basketball,” Howard said. “We’ve all done special things in our career before and it’s time to do it again. We’ve all been blessed to play with Kobe but we all have talent, too, and we have to show it.”
Bryant posted several photos to his Instagram account as he prepped for the surgery, including one posing next to Lakers minority owner Patrick Soon-Shiong while he was receiving an MRI.
Bryant fell to the floor with 3:08 remaining in the fourth quarter Friday night while being guarded by the Warriors’ Harrison Barnes. Bryant had played every minute of the game up to that point, scoring 32 points — including back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game with 3:45 remaining.
“I made a move that I make a million times and it just popped,” Bryant said after the game.
Bryant asked Barnes if he had kicked him in the leg. When Barnes said he hadn’t, Bryant said he knew that a major injury had occurred.
“I was just hoping it wasn’t what I knew it was,” Bryant said. “Just trying to walk it off, hoping that the sensation would come back, but no such luck.”
Following a timeout, Bryant went back into the game and hit both of his free throw attempts with the injury to end his night with 34 points, five rebounds and four assists before being subbed out for World Peace and heading to the locker room.
Source-ESPN
