Laker star Kobe Bryant, who spent the off-season demanding a trade from the team because he said it was not constructed to win now and couldn’t compete with the top teams in the NBA, has seen the absolute worst happen: the Lakers are winning now by beating the top teams in the NBA. The team defeated Western Conference finalist Utah, 119-109, Sunday, a victory that came just two days after a resounding 119-98 victory over NBA title favorite Phoenix in Phoenix. Bryant has complained about a lack of support but has gotten plenty so far, he wasn’t even the leading scorer against Phoenix, his 16 was second to Vladimir Radmoanovic’s 19. Bryant scored 33 points in Sunday’s win. Now whether this actually means anything is questionable. It’s still very early in the worm hole that is the NBA regular season. Then again, the Lakers are a young team and sometimes young teams come together all at once, witness the success last season of Golden State, Utah and Cleveland. Either way, it’s put Bryant in a very uncomfortable position. If the Lakers keep on winning, it will strip him of the “I just want to win” high road he’s been traveling in his dispute with Laker management. If the team starts to lose, and Bryant isn’t putting up fantastic numbers, people will claim he’s tanking it. Add to that the already bizarre circumstance in which Bryant has been brokering his own trade–he recently nixed a deal to Chicago because he thought it left the Bulls to weak to compete–that has split his loyalities between the welfare of the Lakers and the welfare of possible new teams, and you’ve got a strange brew. After Friday’s Phoenix victory, ESPN’s Ric Bucher asked Bryant if he would still want to be traded if the Lakers turned out to be a good team. You could see the flush of the big victory immediately drain from Bryant’s face as he realized his predicament. He babbled something incoherent about playing and team and I dunno what else. Poor Kobe, the guy just can’t catch a break.

Tags: Chicago Bulls, ESPN, kobe bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, worm hole