Kobe Bryant to Play in World Championships?

Health-permitting, it looks like Jerry Colangelo will have one less megastar to yell at this summer. ESPN caught up with Kobe to discuss the possibility of playing for Team USA this summer: “The three leading scorers on USA Basketball’s 2008 gold-medal winning team at the Olympics in Beijing were separated by a mere eight points. The guy who was first, Dwyane Wade, has a divorce case that might preclude him from playing in the world championships this summer in Turkey. The second-leading scorer, LeBron James, told the Associated Press that the likelihood of him renewing his commitment to the U.S. national team this summer as ‘very, very shady right now,’ and added, ‘I’m probably not playing.’ The third-leading scorer, Kobe Bryant, would not commit either way Thursday and would not try to persuade Wade or James to reconsider their plans. ‘They’re grown men, they make their own decisions,’ Bryant said at the Los Angeles Lakers shootaround in preparation for a game against the Denver Nuggets. ‘At the end of the day, they have to listen to what their bodies are telling them and make that call. It’s something I won’t talk to them about.’ Bryant said he is playing “as far as I know,” but added that the decision would hinge on his health. ‘Obviously I have a couple health issues, one being a cracked finger,’ Bryant said. ‘But, we’ll see how it goes.”‘