Kobe Bryant was one of the fiercest contenders in the world of basketball and the entire sporting community. Rarely do you see such players visibly vulnerable. But for Kobe, some events were quite difficult to cope with.

In 2013, as the Los Angeles Lakers were competing for the last playoff spot, the team already had a few injured players. Kobe Bryant, their star player, had to increase his game-time as a result. Further, he was not among the youngest players, as he was just a few months shy of his 35th year into his 17th season in the NBA.

After playing the entirety of seven seasons, towards the end of the regular season, Bryant suffered a torn Achilles Tendon. The injury came two days after he became the first NBA player to get 47 points, eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and three steals in an NBA game.

“I was just hoping it wasn’t what I knew it was,” Bryant later said. “I tried to walk it off hoping that the sensation would come back but no such luck.” But unfortunately, it was what it was.

Former Los Angeles Lakers coach believed it was after the injury that he saw Kobe Bryant at his most vulnerable

Tom Bialaszewski was a part of the Lakers coaching staff at the time of Kobe’s injury. Talking in the Woj Pod podcast recently, Bialaszewski said it was the time when he saw Bryant at his most vulnerable.

“I remember my heart sank. That’s terrible, obviously… We were peaking at the right time. But then, to go into the training room after the game and just see him laying in the training room with his girls, his wife… just despondent and probably didn’t know whether it was the end of his career. Like that was the first time I’ve ever seen him vulnerable,” Bialaszewski, who worked with the Lakers from 2012 to 2016, said

It is ever easy to come back from an injury of that kind at such an age. However, Bryant returned and played two more seasons before ending his legendary career.

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