Kobe Bryant Injury Update: Undergoing Surgery, Season Over: Lakers Star Reveals Shaq Feud Made Him Try to Join Michael Jordan in Washington DC

Kobe Bryant will likely miss the rest of the NBA season after getting surgery on his torn rotator cuff today, according to reports -- with the news coming just after the star revealed he wanted to join Michael Jordan in Washington in the early '00s. The L.A. Lakers star tore his rotator cuff while dunking against the New Orleans Pelicans last week, and the team now expect him to miss the rest of 2015 NBA season. But will he retire? His coach, teammates, former teammates and this "close to hm" believe he will play on in 2015-16, say The LA Times. It will be the third straight season Kobe has had his season cut short by injury.

If Kobe Bryant had joined Michael Jordan with #wizards, "We would've won championships." https://t.co/zEu4EL83ZM pic.twitter.com/dKqreRQZxr

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) January 27, 2015

And, as The Washington Post's Michael Lee reports, Kobe also revealed that he tried to force his way to the Wizards to play with Michael Jordan amid his early '00s feud with Shaquille O'Neal.

.@kobebryant on facing surgery for his torn rotator cuff. https://t.co/Cb1aoVIzgE pic.twitter.com/SKmbUilpgG

— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) January 27, 2015

But dreams of a Jordan-Bryant dynasty in Washington DC are just that, as Yahoo! Sports report, Lakers coach Byron Scott believes that he and his team -- who are mired at 12-33 and second last place in the Western Conference -- will be without the NBA's third-highest scorer in history "for the rest of the year."

Yahoo! report Byron Scott as saying "'Kobe is probably not going to play'" again this season, Scott said after the team's practice on Monday "We all know how tough he is. He's a trooper, so we pray for him that his return will be sooner rather than later."

This is what happens when I pass too much! #ShoulderShock thank u all for ur thoughts and prayers #team @DrinkBODYARMOR @Lakers #oneluv

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 23, 2015

Yahoo! add that the Lakers "discouraged speculation that Bryant's career might be over," also pointing out that Bryant is highest-paid player in the NBA, making "$23.5 million this season, and he is under contract for $25 million next year."

That discouragement came in the form of Byron Scott looking at Kobe's legacy and explaining that there's nothing there to say that the shooting guard -- who was averaging 22.3 points in 35 games this season, while shooting 37.3% from the field -- won't be back next season.

"I think he's done everything that you can possibly do in this league, and I think at times, we don't appreciate all the stuff that he's been able to accomplish," Scott gushed to reporters about his star.

"I don't think we appreciate how tough he is, all the injuries and other things that he's played with, to be able to come back the way that he's come back. I don't see Kobe as the type of guy that wants to leave his legacy on (these) terms. I think he wants to go out on his own terms. We'll just have to wait and see.'"

The LA Times report former Laker, Bryant teammate and current Denver Nuggets coach Brian Shaw as agreeing with the sentiment. They report Shaw as saying "I don't think he wants to go out the way that he's out now," before the Nuggets played the L.A. Clippers on Monday evening. "The games that he's been able to play, up to this point in the season, shows that he still has a lot to give the game, if that's what he decides to do."

Kobe, for his part, said in a statement with The Player's Tribune that "I feel like I just returned a 100 yard kickoff in the last two minutes of the Super Bowl to win it all only to have my run called back by a flag on the play."

In a tribute to his competitive nature ESPN's J.A. Adande says, it was Kobe Bryant who "did in Kobe Bryant."

Report: Lakers' Kobe Bryant 'definitively' coming back next year https://t.co/gEeuaSIX1o pic.twitter.com/dVN5Pq7F2g

— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) January 26, 2015

And, as CBS Sports's James Herbert says, "Knowing what we know about Bryant, it's almost impossible to imagine him just walking away now. He wants to go out on his own terms, and it looks like it will take more than a torn rotator cuff to end his career."