LAD
GSAD - formally known as LAD
I would say even considering the injuries his last couple of seasons he's been blessed-as we the fans have too-to get as many seasons out of him as we did.Agree for the most part. I think Kobe's biggest problem wasn't that he didn't sit out games to rest like Lebron has done the past couple of seasons, but that he played in games while hurt when he would have been better served to sit out. I saw a recent interview with the Lakers head trainer, Gary Vitti (who is also retiring at the end of the season) and he was talking about some of the stuff he used to have to do to get Kobe ready to play because he just wouldn't sit out. It was pretty fascinating.
As I said in an earlier post, we've all heard teams say "If this were a playoff game, he'd play" when guys were sitting out with more minor type injuries. Kobe always played in those games.
To his credit, a big part of the reason he did it because fans were paying to see him play and he didn't want to disappoint. To his detriment, as you point out, it's also why he's been done for a couple of years now.
I don't really think there's any reason for Lebron to be sitting out for rest at age 31, but I also agree that it's better to be safe than sorry.