Kobe Bryant blames his shoulder injury on passing 'too much'

In his first public comments since the Los Angeles Lakers announced that he had suffered a torn right rotator cuff, Kobe Bryant went peak Kobe Bryant with his Twitter response:

That is brilliant. And perfect Kobe – a self-aware joke, an endorsement, hashtags and thanks.

More telling? No dour notes, no blacked-out Twitter avatar (as he did during his 2013 rehab from an Achilles tear), no complaints about the struggle being real, nothing for us to chomp down on in wondering if Kobe was game to retire after a third consecutive season was ended by a major injury.

Bryant was never going to retire, regardless of the $25 million he would be walking away from in the process, but it wouldn’t be atypical for him to spend the next few months fuming and lamenting his recent streak of bad luck. It would have been just fine for Bryant to be frustrated before the cloud cleared and the summer brought new hope, but we’re not getting any of that from this tweet. Perhaps we’re reading too much into a stupid Twitter message, but it’s still good to see.

Kobe Bryant, healthy and on the basketball court again, would be great to see. We’re enjoying 2014-15, but this is one benefit of 2015-16 that can’t get here soon enough.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops