In the wake of Kobe Bryant saying that his legs have felt "heavy" in recent days, coach Byron Scott said that the team will being to rest the five-time NBA champion more during practices to preserve his strength.
Bryant, who was limited to just six games last season due to myriad injuries, is attempting to play 30 to 40 minutes a night, and the team will rest him ahead of games in order to ensure he doesn't break down over the course of the season.
Bryant has had weary legs and is averaging 35.7 minutes per game heading into Los Angeles' matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
"You try to kind of work your way through it a little bit, but everything's short," Bryant told ESPN Los Angeles about his legs. "It's just one of those 36-year-old [hiccups]."
Scott said he believes that it's normal for Bryant to feel the way he does in his 19th season after all of the time he missed during the 2013-14 campaign.
"I said, that's expected when you haven't played that long, you miss that length of time, being a year off," Scott said, "and then you come back basically with a bang because that adrenaline is flowing. Then sooner or later, during the season, it's going to catch up to you. We've just got to rejuvenate and get back there. He will. I think that this week at home, getting a couple days off here and there will definitely help him."
The Lakers have lost two games in a row, and are coming off a 101-94 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. Los Angeles enters Friday's game with a lowly 3-11 record, which is the second worst in the Western Conference.
Bryant entered the season with hopes of winning a sixth NBA title, but it appears to be a long-shot at best. Still, Los Angeles is doing all it can to make sure that Bryant doesn't break down over the course of the grueling 82-game schedule.
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