Kobe Bryant: I Will Play This Season

Kobe Bryant plans to have his injured left knee re-evaluated sometime in early February and has no intention of sitting out the rest of the season, no matter how bad things get for the Los Angeles Lakers in the standings.

“The only thing I can afford to consider is getting better, getting stronger,” Bryant said before the Lakers’ 107-104 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday. “I can’t allow myself to think any other way. I can only think about the next step. To do anything else becomes distracting if you allow yourself, if you give yourself wiggle room to not push yourself as hard as you possibly can. To think about sitting out and this, that and the other, your motivation is all wrong. I refuse to think that way.”

via Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles