ONTARIO — Something annoyed Kobe Bryant, and no he did not fret that much about the Lakers’ 105-97 preseason loss to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday at Citizens Business Bank Arena.
It involved something else that has emerged around this time of year for three consecutive seasons. ESPN released its pre-season player rankings that pitted Bryant as the league’s 93rd best player.
“Please don’t ask me about silly stuff like that,” Bryant said.
Still, Bryant expressed amusement over several of the 8,123 Lakers fans in attendance who had criticized ESPN’s player evaluations.
“I heard a couple of those,” Bryant said.