The Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant are marching through foreign territory. Their franchise superstar is not what he once was, and for the first time in his career, he's openly missing games and playing time for one simple reason: Rest. It hasn't amounted to much better results in the win-loss column for the Lakers, but the time off has limited mileage Kobe has needed to add in a pointless season.


The question will soon become whether it's worth playing the Black Mamba at all this season, and that's a slippery slope to climb. 

The Lakers would be doing the fans a disservice -- the paying kind, who still fill out Staples Center on a nightly basis -- sidelining Bryant for the season. Still, it's an idea Byron Scott has already floated out, stating he'd revisit the idea during the NBA's All-Star break. Considering Kobe has missed half of the Lakers' last 12 games, the team has already begun adjusting to life without him. 

The benefit of letting Kobe sit out for 35-to-40 games is obvious. He can't get injured if he isn't playing basketball, he won't burn the few remaining minutes in his career and the Lakers arguably become a worse team, allowing them a higher chance to retain their '15 pick. The problem, though, is Kobe Bryant's clock continues to tick, and age won't stop just because he isn't pounding his joints on the hardwood floor on a nightly basis. 

There's only so much time left with Kobe, and asking him to sit out a huge chunk of what little time remains in his career is a hard idea to swallow.

He should continue to play if he's healthy, period. Surrendering the end of Kobe Bryant's career if his expiration date as a basketball player really is once his current contract expires isn't something that'll go over well with fans, or Bryant himself. Tossing up a white flag, even in a year the Lakers have no chance of chasing a title, isn't something anyone is accustomed to. 

But it could have it's benefits in the long-term. Should the front office truly believe they'll be competitive next season there's plenty of reason to want Kobe to be as fresh as possible for one last run. Furthermore, if there's even a glimmer of hope he can still play at a high level during the '16-17 season, resting him now makes some sense. A big step forward in competitiveness would definitely be landing one of the elite prospects in this draft, and no Kobe means even less talent on the team to scrounge up a few extra wins. 

Ultimately the Lakers, and Kobe, will have to make a decision on how the season will play out and what's best for everybody. The rest is a great workaround for now; something that should have been done from the start of the season. Bryon Scott already admitted his mistake in playing 36-year-old Kobe way too many minutes early in the season, but now the alternative has Kobe feeling like the "Tin Man" after sitting on the bench for long stretches. 

There's clear arguments that can be made for Kobe Bryant sitting out the second half of the season, just as there are points to be made about him continuing to play through it. This is a complex issue that, in the end, only one man can make a decision about: Kobe. If history has told us anything, it's that there is no surrender in the Black Mamba, only a relentless will to prove everyone and everything -- including his own body and Father Time -- wrong. The decision on how much he plays through the second half of the season will be a very telling moment for both the franchise and an all-time great.