EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Lakers coach Byron Scott said he has not yet decided if Kobe Bryant will play in Tuesday's game against the Warriors, as he weighs options to alleviate the fatigue that caused Bryant's performance to drop considerably in recent outings.
Bryant, 36 years old and playing in his 19th NBA season, is fourth in the league in scoring with an average of 24.6 points per game. But he has missed 34 of 45 shots in the past two games. He is shooting 37 percent for the season, while playing an average of 35.4 minutes per game.
Scott said he talked with Bryant on Monday night and that they will have another conversation Tuesday afternoon to determine if Bryant will play.
"We've got to take into consideration that he hasn't played in almost a year [because of major injuries in 2013], and he's still knocking off some of the rust," Scott said after the Lakers' morning shootaround. "As I told him last night: 'You made your point. Everybody in this league knows now that you still can play. There's no doubt about that. You've still got a lot left in the tank.'
"It's really up to me to try to preserve that as much as possible."
After they play the Warriors, the Lakers have a set of back-to-back games in Chicago and Dallas on Thursday and Friday, the first of 10 back-to-backs remaining on their schedule.
Scott said they talked about altering their plans for those games and other potential changes. He said they did not discuss reducing Bryant's playing time, but Scott would like to get him down to about 32 minutes per game.
The Lakers are 8-19, and Bryant has played in every game to date. Even though he has shot below 40 percent this season, there's been a noticeable drop-off in the past week, and Bryant has admitted to feeling more tired than he ever has before.
Scott attributes the fatigue at this point in the season to "the fact that he hasn't played in so long, and what he puts his body through and his mind through to get ready to play is unlike anybody else in this league."
"So [Bryant's] preparation is so intense and then to play the game and to get the physical pounding that he gets, it takes his toll," Scott said. "I'm not super surprised after 27 games that it's starting to hit him. It's something that we probably should have talked about at the beginning of the season. ... It's better late than never. We're learning all this on the fly."