Once Kobe Bryant went down with the season-ending Achilles injury against the Golden State Warriors, the immediate future of Los Angeles Lakers superstar was in serious doubt. Kobe had already started to flirt with the notion of retiring at the end of the 2013-14 NBA season with his contract with the Lakers expiring and the most recent injury was thought to potentially make up his mind for him.
—-Want to show off your Kobe love? Check out this VINO t-shirt!—-
Despite suffering the devastating injury, Kobe has been extremely optimistic during his recovery from surgery on his Achilles and plans to play next season and potentially beyond.
Longtime Lakers trainer Gary Vitti provided some insight on Kobe’s recovery and whether or not he’ll play in the first game of next season via Mike Trudell of Lakers.com:
MT: Where is Bryant in terms of his rehabilitation? Do you think he can play in the season opener, as is his hope?
Vitti: We don’t know yet. Kobe looks exactly the way he’s supposed to look at this point in time. Kobe makes you look good as a training staff … we always feel good about how he’s going to recover from anything, and that’s a credit to him. He gets all of it. He’s the one that has to do it. He’s going to be great no matter whom he works with, and right now he’s working with the best, in my opinion, Judy Seto.
Although Vitti isn’t ready to say Kobe will be ready for the season opener, the longtime trainer is also optimistic about the superstar’s return to the floor.
At this point in time, Kobe being able to return for the Lakers season opener may be a stretch considering the severity of the injury and the average recovery time from this kind of surgery. Despite that being the case, there’s no question Kobe is a different breed in terms of bouncing back from injury and will do everything within his power to return sooner rather than later.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Did you see our video about what Shaq had to say about Dwight Howard? If not, check out our video below and don’t forget to click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
