Los Angeles Lakers: The Road Ahead for Kobe Bryant’s Recovery from Achilles’ Injury

Kobe Bryant hopes to be back from his Achilles’ tendon injury to start the 2013-14 season. Photo Credit: (Flickr.com)

The Los Angeles Lakers made the playoffs this season, overcoming a 17-25 start to finish 28-12 and grab the seventh seed in the Western Conference on the final night of the season on Wednesday, April 17.

But the Lakers will go to the playoffs without their franchise player, Kobe Bryant, who tore his Achilles’ tendon six nights earlier.

The doctor who performed the surgery on Bryant, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, told the Los Angeles Times that Bryant’s prospects for a full recovery are good because of Bryant’s mental toughness and competitive drive.

“I can point to all of the scientific aspects of the repair, but just as important if not more important is, who is that Achilles attached to?” ElAttrache said. “In this situation, it’s attached to Kobe Bryant, who has figured out a way to get through some injuries that would ordinarily be career-threatening. Some of the things he’s had go on with him have ended guys’ careers in the NBA.”

Dominique Wilkins played professionally for seven seasons after rupturing his Achilles’ tendon, five in the NBA and two in Europe, including in 1996 Panathinaikos in Greece. (Photo by ChrisRaptis/Wikimedia Commons)

There are precedents—both good and bad—for how athletes have recovered from the injury. In the NBA, perhaps the best-case scenario is Dominique Wilkins.

Wilkins told USA Today that while Bryant’s plan to return in time to start the 2013-14 might be overly ambitious, a full recovery isn’t out of the question by any means.

“As you get older, you don’t heal as easily like we did when we were younger,” Wilkins said. “Six months is quick. I will tell you that.

“It took me nine months to really get back to the form and the level that I once played. He’s got to be patient. That’s the biggest thing for me. He has to be patient.”

Wilkins was 32 when he tore his Achilles in January 1992. He recovered to play five more years in the NBA and two seasons in Europe.

Before his injury, Wilkins had averaged 26.2 points (ppg) and 37 minutes (mpg) a game in 762 career games, shooting 46.9 percent from the floor and posting seven rebounds (rpg), 2.6 assists (apg), 1.5 steals (spg) and 0.7 block per game (bpg). His career player efficiency rating (PER) at the time was a very good 22.0—15.0 is considered an average rating—and he was a seven-time All-Star.

After the injury, Wilkins averaged 21.5 ppg and 31.7 mpg in 312 games, shooting 43.9 percent from the floor with 5.9 rpg, 2.2 apg, 0.9 spg and 0.3 bpg.

So, yes, his numbers went down, but that’s not unexpected for a player going into his mid- to late 30s. Wilkins was also named to two more All-Star appearances, including the year he returned in 1993, when he was also named to the All-NBA second team after averaging 29.9 ppg in 71 games. He was a third-team All-NBA choice in 1993-94, the year he was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Los Angeles Clippers, and averaged 26.0 ppg in 74 games.

So as comebacks from Achilles’ injuries go, Wilkins’ isn’t too bad.

However, one cautionary tale when comparing Wilkins to Bryant: Wilkins was 32 at the time of his injury, was in his 10th NBA season and had played 27,482 career minutes, including the postseason. Bryant is 34, in his 17th season and has played 54,041 minutes.

That’s a lot of mileage difference.

Elton Brand, Gerald Wilkins (coincidentally—or not—Dominique’s brother), LaPhonso Ellis and Christian Laettner are other NBA players who returned from the injury to varying degrees of success.

But there is also the other side of the coin.

Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas was also 32 when he tore his Achilles in 1992. Thomas had played 13 seasons and 39,743 minutes (including playoffs) when he was hurt.

Thomas never played in another NBA game.

CBSSports.com’s Josh Katzowitz tried to parallel a potential Bryant recovery to that of former National Football League quarterback Dan Marino, who tore his Achilles in October 1993 and returned to start the season opener for the Miami Dolphins in September 1994 with one of his biggest games.

It was a nice return for Marino—he threw for 473 yards and five touchdowns in a win over the New England Patriots. But Bryant has to do a lot more cutting and running as a basketball player than Marino had to as a quarterback.

Marino’s game was never centered on his mobility—even before his injury he was considered one of the least mobile quarterbacks in the NFL—so it’s not nearly as good a parallel as one might think.

Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers tore his Achilles in February 2012. (Photo: NBA.com)

Another aging NBA star to go through the Achilles recovery is Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers, but his grade at this point would have to be an incomplete.

Billups tore his Achilles on Feb. 6, 2012, at the age of 35 and returned this season to play 22 games while bothered by an assortment of nagging injuries. Billups was in his 15th season when injured and had logged a career total of 37,487 regular-season and playoff minutes—closer to Bryant, but still nowhere near the wear-and-tear.

International soccer star David Beckham is another athlete who returned from the injury. The tear in March 2010 cost him a chance of playing for England in another World Cup, but he was able to return to the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer in September of the same year. Beckman, now 37, is still playing for Paris Saint-Germain in the French Ligue 1.

So Kobe Bryant has a tough road ahead. Will he make it all the way back to be the player he was before he was injured? That’s a question only time can answer.