Kobe aggravated finger injury, choosed rest over surgery

Bryant aggravated his dislocated right pinky finger in last night game vs the Wolves. He said he would appreciate not to play on Sunday's all star game, using the time to get his finger some rest before wednesday matchup vs Phoenix & his former teammate O'Neal.

Kobe has decided to put off a potential surgery - choosing rest for his finger -  and will try to play through the pain. He intends to have surgery after his season with the Lakers and his summer with Team USA. The surgery would keep him sidelined 6 weeks.

"My current thinking is to give my finger some treatment and rest for a few days, and hope I can still compete at a high level after that rest. I would prefer to delay any surgical procedure until after our Lakers season and this summer's Olympic Games. But this is an injury that myself and the Lakers' medical staff will just have to continue to monitor on a day-to-day basis."

Even if Lakers Owner Jerry Buss recommanded him to have surgery now, Kobe's looking for playing through injury. “He’s concerned about my hand post-career and I appreciate that. But we want to contend for a championship now.”  KB24