Kobe Bryant Won’t Return Friday
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Christian Petersen/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Kobe Bryant will not return on Friday against the Sacramento Kings.
The five-time champion has been working hard this week to get back on the court after being sidelined since last April with an Achillies injury.
Bryant attended a launch event for his new Nike “Kobe 9” signature sneaker on Wednesday and spoke about the issue.
“This is the second day now that I’ve been able to get out there and move around and play and play pretty well, and it felt like I could do anything that I wanted to do out there on the floor, so we progress to [Thursday], Bryant told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “Let’s see if I can go three days straight and then have another hard workout on Friday and kind of measure it accordingly.”
Bryant said his status is getting closer to a game-to-game basis. He added that he has not ruled out returning on Sunday when the Lakers play the Toronto Raptors.
Bryant said his biggest hurdle to overcome was “just running into the shooting.”
“Because, it’s one thing to be out on the track all day and run. It’s another thing to run, jump, change directions, now gather your legs for a shot. You still kind of feel like you get those ‘Bambi’ legs and that sort of thing,” he continued. “But, the Achilles feels pretty good. Other than that, you’re just dealing with the typical things that a player playing 18 years is going to deal with — just it’s sore here, sore there.”
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