Kobe Bryant was one of the most popular players in the NBA. In the 20 years that he spent in the league, he created a legacy that no one can ever forget. But it came with a cost.
Over the course of his career, Bryant suffered numerous injuries. While some were minor, the others were not so much. Despite that, he always had an unmatched work ethic and the will to never accept defeat.
A few years ago, a painful infographic was created by Bill Oram (Twitter account suspended). The graphic showed each injury that Bryant suffered in his career and how long did he miss due to that.
In total, the Mamba was sidelined 22 times due to injury trouble. Here are all the injuries that he suffered as per the infographic:
- Flu (games missed – 01)
- Viral Infection (games missed – 02)
- Laceration Index Finger (games missed – 07)
- Fractured Metacarpal (games missed – 15)
- Avulsion Fracture Index Finger (games missed – 02)
- Sprained Shoulder (games missed – 08)
- Strained Hip Flexor (games missed – 01)
- Sore Knee (games missed – 01)
- Knee Surgery (games missed – 02)
- Sprained Right Ankle ’97-98 (games missed – 03)
- Sprained Right Ankle ’00-01 (games missed – 03)
- Sprained Right Ankle ’06-07 (games missed – 01)
- Severe Right Ankle Sprain (games missed – 14)
- Knee Swelling (games missed – 02)
- Bruised Shin (games missed – 01)
- Fractured Knee (games missed – 39 at the time of the graphic was made)
- Tenosynovitis Shin (games missed – 07)
- Severe Ankle Left Sprain (games missed – 02)
- Torn Achilles’ Tendon (games missed – 02)
- Sore Foot (games missed – 09)
- Achilles’ Surgery (games missed – 19)
- Sprained Left Ankle (games missed – 05)
It is truly astounding that Kobe suffered so many injuries during his career and still won so many accolades.
In an Instagram post by Slam studios, many fans shared their views about Kobe dealing with a plethora of injuries in his career.
Orionbasketbvll: And he never use any of those injuries as an excuse. Different breed.
Shecravejosh: Injury prone but you wouldn’t even know it .
Ayoroyy: If Kobe wasn’t injury prone he would easily have better stats and accolades and would have played longer idk how y’all don’t think bro top 5.
Agui_52: Miss him man.
gabetrifiro: Damn he had a sore foot in 2001
patrickbrady__: Meanwhile LeBron gets poked in the eye and was on the ground longer then Joe Borrow was after he tore his ACL MCL and had other knee damage
drewlynch5_: Lebron would never
b1ankopr: DRose needs knees like that
papi3inches: Now let’s see AD’s
landonwhittington18: Then lebron gets carried of the court bc of cramps
moxyblackfiddle: Dude, Iverson was a walking medial unit.
agh_3015: Double edge sword. Had the Greatest work ethic, which made him the most polished and skilled player ever, but with that never gave his body a rest which caused him so much wear and tear. Truth is he wouldn’t have it any other way! RIP Mamba
ko3ster1: Bruh sat out 2 games after tearing his Achilles built different
There will never be another player like Kobe and he will forever remain in the hearts of NBA fans.
