Kobe Bryant Out of Three-Point Shootout, Questionable for ASG

by Russ Bengtson

It’s worse than we thought.

Kobe Bryant’s right pinkie is, to put it in medical terms, really messed up. To be more specific:

There is a complete tear of the radial collateral ligament and avulsion fracture, in which a small bone fragment had been pulled off by a tendon.

Yuck.

Doctors are recommending surgery, but that would mean he’d miss up to six weeks, and he’d prefer to wait until after the Olympics. Not to mention with center Andrew Bynum still out, they Lakers would have to trade for Vince Carter or something. So for now he’ll just try treatment, rest (Dirk Nowitzki is replacing him in the three-point shootout) and hope.

There is, of course, another option.