Kobe Bryant opens up about severity of knee injury
http://content.usatoday.com/communit...geles-lakers/1
Kobe Bryant's right knee may be the biggest obstacle to the Lakers' hopes for a three-peat.
Bryant, in an interview with New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey, confirmed that he sat out all practices this season, until LA was humbled by the Miami Heat on Christmas Day.
The 32-year-old Bryant told Vecsey he was sitting out, "Because I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap, it's almost bone on bone."
He has had surgery on that knee three times, and it had to be drained often during last season's playoffs.
"Until I got it drained the first time during the opening round against the Thunder I could not bend that knee at all," Bryant said. "It was swollen as hell and it hurt like hell. Luckily things got a lot better once I had the procedure."
-- Tom Weir / usatoday