Pau Gasol Believes Kobe Bryant Will Play in Season Opener

Over the last weeks of the preseason, the Los Angeles Lakers had only one major concern in terms of injuries with Dwight Howard trying to get back to 100 percent. Fortunately, Howard was able to get healthy enough to make his debut and go on to play two preseason games for his new team.

It was a relief for the Lakers’ coaching staff to finally see Howard gets some time on the floor against opponents other than his teammates, but a new problem quickly emerged soon after with Kobe Bryant suffering a foot injury.

As arguably the toughest player in the NBA today in terms of playing through injuries, Kobe is never a major concern for the Lakers as he always finds a way to get the floor and produce at a high level. Unfortunately, the latest foot injury sidelined Kobe for the final two preseason games and has shed some doubt on whether or not he’ll be good to go for the season opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

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Although there’s been no indication if Kobe will play against the Mavs on Tuesday, teammate Pau Gasol believes he will be on the floor for the first game of the regular season via Eric Pincus of the L.A. Times:

“Knowing Kobe, I think he’ll play,” Gasol said. “He plays through so much.”

Over the past few years, Kobe has played through all sorts of injuries with seemingly nothing short of a wheelchair keeping him off the floor. With that being said, it’s hard not to agree with Gasol here as there’s no way Kobe will miss the debut of one of the most talented starting lineups he’s ever been a part of during his 16-year career in the league.

If Kobe does end up missing the season opener with the right foot injury, it would be safe to assume that it is much worse than anticipated and it might keep him out for at least the first few games of the season.

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In case you missed it: Dwight Howard talks about the slow process of putting together a championship team.
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