“Didn’t Know It Was Fractured”: When Kobe Bryant Played Through Left Knee Injury, Hit a Game-Winning Dagger 3 Over Memphis

If you have ever played organized sports, at some point or another, you’ve probably gotten hurt. You either played through it or sat and healed. Both are valid responses to a twisted ankle, a jammed finger, or a bloody nose. But imagine doing that for a catastrophic injury, and you’ll have the real-life experience of Kobe Bryant.

Many will remember Kobe’s free throws after a torn Achilles in 2013, his dislocated finger that was popped back in on the fly in 2016, or even the plethora of other minor injuries he played through in his career, but not many remember when he played through a major injury to his left knee. In fact, not only did he play through it, but he hit a game-winning three before hitting the trainer’s table.

Just under a year after his Achilles tear and only six games into his return, Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Memphis Grizzlies. While the team struggled, Kobe attempted to carry his team to victory as he had done many times before.

He stepped, planted, and went to turn, only for the force to shoot excruciating pain up into his knee. Bryant would leave the game, unlikely to return. And yet, two quarters later, there he was, fighting to get himself open on the game’s last possession.

“I didn’t know it was fractured. I don’t think any of us did,” he said post-game. “You just go out there and play.”

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His leg could no longer carry his weight. “The knee was stiff and painful”, he said. Still, he loaded the shot up, jumped largely off his right foot, and sank the three to ice the game.

That was typical of Bryant’s excellence.

Kobe Bryant always played through injuries for the fans

Kobe often looked back on the Achilles tear that defined his later career as a reason to push through any and all injuries he faced. If it wasn’t as bad as the tear, he surely thought, it could be dealt with through strength of mind. And if he had been able to go back out there and make his two free throws after that, he could keep playing through anything else.

Often defined as one of the grittiest and most determined players to have ever played, Bryant missed only 112 games across his 18-year career. If you ignore the 80 games he missed after his Achilles tear, that’s only 32 games across 18 years, or about two games per year.

Vanessa Bryant once spoke about how badly Kobe wanted to make sure he was always playing for the fans who were watching, especially those who did not get the opportunity often. He relished playing for people, and he was determined to do so at all costs.

During the Memorial service at Staples Center, she said, “I remember asking him why he couldn’t just sit a game out because he was hurting. He said ‘What about the fans that saved up to watch me play just once?’ He never forgot about his fans.”