The Los Angeles Lakers played arguably their best game of the 2015-16 NBA season in their 113-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks and as this season has moved forward, Kobe Bryant has seemed to take on a different role with the Lakers.
Whereas Kobe was the focal point of the offense at the outset, he has seemed to allow the Lakers young players take on more of the major roles in the last few games.
This has not been lost on head coach Byron Scott who says that Kobe is stepping to the side for the young core according to Ryan Ward of Examiner:
Byron Scott on Kobe Bryant deferring to the Lakers young players: "He's kind of stepping to the side."
— Ryan Ward (@Lakers_Examiner) December 16, 2015
The first sign of this was in the Lakers overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in which Kobe did not play in the entire fourth quarter or overtime. Though Kobe still led the Lakers in shot attempts against the Bucks with 15, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and D’Angelo Russell all took at least 12 shots as well.
Kobe recognizes that those three players are the future of this franchise and he wants them to be ready when the time comes to take the reins of this team and lead them back into contention. All three have grown tremendously this season and performances like this are sure to excite the fan base.
As the season goes on, the young players are sure to take even more of a major role with this team and Kobe will make sure they are ready when that time comes.
