Kobe takes rest day at Miami; World Peace starts
MIAMI — Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant sat out Tuesday’s game against the Miami Heat to rest, the team said.
It marked the first game of the season that the 37-year-old Bryant has missed in what could be his final NBA campaign.
Metta World Peace, 35, started in place of Bryant. World Peace has played two games this season, averaging 5.5 points in 16.5 minutes.
World Peace’s last NBA stint was with the New York Knicks in 2013-14. The former NBA Defensive Player of the Year played four seasons with the Lakers from 2009 to 2013, averaging 9.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
He played a crucial role in the Lakers’ win over the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals.
Bryant is in the final year of his deal with the team and hasn’t said whether he’ll retire next summer, instead saying he’ll make that decision at the end of this season, his 20th in the NBA.
Bryant had expressed a desire to play all 82 regular-season games to Lakers coach Byron Scott.
But Scott has maintained that Bryant, whose past three seasons have all been cut short by injury, would need to sit out games to rest.
Bryant’s decision to rest Tuesday comes as the Lakers were entering the first of 17 back-to-back sets this season, with the team visiting Orlando to play the Magic on Wednesday.
Bryant is averaging 16.5 points but on 32 percent shooting from the field this season, which, if it held up through the end of the season, would be his worst shooting percentage since entering the league.
He shot a career-worst 37 percent from the field in 35 games last season before suffering a season-ending torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
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