LA Lakers Kobe Bryant News: Athlete's Retirement A Great Loss To The Team

Kobe Bryant is indisputably LA Lakers' poster boy but as his retirement draws near, the ultimate fate of his beloved franchise hangs up in the air.

So what becomes of Lakers once Bryant exits from the scene?

Setting aside the Bryant-vs-Jordan debate, the lead player holds a number of stellar accomplishments to his name such as being the third-leading scorer in the league's history and winning five NBA championships. But without Bryant, how will the team make the best of its current roster of players?

"When you look at our young corps, I don't look at none of those guys as being that next Kobe. I think they could be a piece of it, a part of it, but not to get to that level he's gotten to. If there is one that can do that, it's going to take a whole hell of a lot of work to get there, a lot of dedication to be able to get to that pinnacle as far as basketball is concerned," remarked team coach Byron Scott as quoted by LA Times.

But the Lakers does have some promising players like D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. All three may have the talent but they also have a lot of ground to cover if they want to remake basketball like Bryant did.

Meanwhile, Bryant suffered his worst defeat in his career after Utah Jazz dominated the Lakers with a large margin of victory last Monday. The match ended 123-75, an unsavory defeat ahead of Kobe's looming retirement.

"It's a damn shame our oldest player has to take the challenge. It says a lot about him, obviously. It's what he has done all his life, but nobody else wanted to step up and take that challenge," said Byron after the game as reported by The Guardian.

His recent games leading up to his retirement were pretty unremarkable although none would seriously hurt the legacy that he had already established in his 20-season NBA career. Last Sunday, Lakers also took a beating from Washington Wizard with the franchise's 101-88 loss as mentioned in a report by ESPN.