RealGM

Hey guys, I was thinking about something the other day when I heard the 1000th talking head mention how bad the Kobe extension is...

Was it really a bad contract? They are paying him less per year and it was only a 2-year contract.

So, I'd like to pose a question to the RealGM'ers...

If the Lakers did not sign Kobe Bryant to an extension and he hit Unrestricted Free Agency:

-How much do you think he would command coming off the injury?

-How much more do you think (years and dollars) that he could have earned if he proved he was healthy Kobe at the end of the year?

-What teams do you think would be interested in Kobe who either have the cap space to sign him OR would actively clear cap space to get him?

-Finally, do you think Kobe would have left the Lakers if the right opportunity was presented to him?

The best offer wouldn't have exceeded $10 mil per season and 2 seasons. I have no issue paying him another $25 mil if he was still the monster he was in 2013, which was 27/6/6 at 57% TS but sadly he likely will be several notches below that.

The contract is horrible.

He's being paid for his achievements, not future expectations.

20 mil per would've been par i would've accepted

i was actually hoping kobe would take 15 mil per, that would've showed everyone he was a team player

instead we have 23.5/25 and it was an overpay

At this point its water under the bridge, most people would have liked if he had taken less but he didn't and its up to the front office to build around what they have left, because they are the ones that offered it to him. We are still giving Nash $9.7 Million that people hardly talk about and most have forgotten he still plays for us.

Financially it was irresponsible for Kobe to take less because after taxes next year Kobe will only make about $10.6 Million, I've let the contract situation go and the rest of us should try to do the same.

Yeah, I'm not sure why we're still discussing this. It's literally a done deal.

But I think he would have gotten offers quite a bit north of $10M and he could have gotten an extra year if I'm not mistaken.

could've been more creative in getting him that same amt of money

I was hoping he would take $12 to $15 mil. Realistically I was expecting $18 to $20 mill. The day he signed his extension and the tweets were popping up I was very disappointed. It was kind of a slap in the face as a fan because it made it seem like one guy was bigger than the whole franchise and that it would scare other free agents away because they would have to take a significant paycut if they wanted to play here in LA and have a shot at winning.

Imagine if he resigned for 5 million a year. He would have been a **** legend

Bad contract when in a capped out league and Kobe wants to win in two year window. You can't just think hey the Buss family has some magical pixie fairy magic dust that will make everything right.

Look at Tim Duncan and the Spurs he allowed them to have cap space to make maneuvers, and is likely to go to two straight finals.

Luckily it's only 164 games to see a player who has been injured in back to back years. Plus the contract doesn't have the years like Amare Stoudemire(5yrs, $1xx) when PHX said Amare would break down.

I would of give Kobe his number in contract for an extension ($24) over 2 years.

The Skyhook wrote:I was hoping he would take $12 to $15 mil. Realistically I was expecting $18 to $20 mill. The day he signed his extension and the tweets were popping up I was very disappointed. It was kind of a slap in the face as a fan because it made it seem like one guy was bigger than the whole franchise and that it would scare other free agents away because they would have to take a significant paycut if they wanted to play here in LA and have a shot at winning.

Remember... This wasn't really his decision. Kobe just signed the offer in front of him.
I'm sure he and his agent let it be known what ball park he wanted to be in, but I think the final amount was all Mitch and Jim.

I still firmly believe there was a purpose behind the FO making Kobe "the Highest Paid Player in the League" at this particular time... I'm convinced this was to set the market for upcoming free agents like LeBron that we knew we had very little chance at.
Prior to the new CBA players like LeBron etc, were all about the feel good 'take less to build a contender' move... So a lot of them sort of were hamstringing their earning potential in those kind of deals. Then the CBA came along and made it even harder for teams to build multiple star teams so the pressure to take less was even greater... So Mitch and Jim threw a monkey wrench in the works in the form of Kobe's massive contract to sort of derail that mind set... Now I guarantee after taking less for a few years, LeBron wants the full on max... Wade and Bosh probably aren't going to sacrifice a whole lot either... And depending on what happens vs Indiana, that move might have helped break up that team...

I think we fully expect to have a rough couple years so Kobe's contract probably isn't scaring us too much. But it might have far reaching impact around the league.

GeorgeDillion wrote:At this point its water under the bridge, most people would have liked if he taken less but he didn't and its up to the front office to build around what they have left, because they are the ones that offered it to him. We are still giving Nash $9.7 Million that people hardly talk about and most have forgotten he still plays for us.

Financially it was irresponsible for Kobe to take less because after taxes next year Kobe will only make about $10.6 Million, I've let the contract situation go and the rest of us should try to do the same.

Man I'm happy someone can understand. This new CBA has fans focusing primarily on cap space more than the GM's owners and even players lol. Most people hoping Kobe took an EVEN BIGGER paycut would've done the same exact thing Kobe did. Got their money. In reality he took less (sorry its not less enough for people) and we still have cap space. The state taxes out here our atrocious. And after agent, PR and any other fees he would've paid, he really took less on the end game payout than most people realize. This was the guys last big contract he could get before he's on his way out. The guy was just maximizing his potential earnings. I've even read some places and articles saying Kobe should've only signed for the vet minimum lol. Wow just wow lol.

In my opinion we can still field a competitive roster next season. The problem that now comes up is with this new fan expectation that's been set in this era of hoop about making super-teams. If you're not fielding a team with 3 in their prime all stars fans want you to tank the season. So what we're not favorites to win another ring next season (7 finals in 14 years i'd take that any day). I just hope we can grab a couple pieces this summer and get a solid rookie in this draft or even move the pick for a seasoned player and make a playoff push. Who knows Mitch and Jim have pulled a rabbit from their hat before. And we bring in a good respectable leader in a coach that can mesh with Kobe and whoever we put alongside of him we can start pushing our franchise back on the right path


In the end I really thought they'd settle on a contract at about 15mill a year but whats done is done. Its time to make moves based on where we are

You realize that was the offer they gave him right? His agent supposedly didn't even negotiate and the Lakers put forward that two years/ 40 million offer. Did you want him to tell management "Are you sure about this guys, it's too much..." Also, they had to offer him that, did you really want to take the chance you low ball Kobe and he ends up on a rival team. Na you secure his last two years and you repay him for sticking with the Lakers, you let other FA's know what happens when you stick with your team for so long. You get rewarded.

I'm a troll from Northern California. Is it a general consensus that Kobe (or his agents/managers) had 0% idea and a $48.5M extension showed up in front of him?

Any chance that this is just Kobe's PR machine running? Is it even possible that no exchange among them on how much Kobe expected to be paid? e.g. "Nah I don't plan to be Duncan" or "Look at all the $20M players and none of them are even at my level" etc etc

you know you can still be a Lakers fan and not agree with every. single. thing the FO do.

that extension was bad period. cant believe we're talking about this again.

kobe will be the highest paid player in the league, so yeah it obviously puts the lakers at a disadvantage. when the spurs can trot out duncan and parker for a total that is less than kobe by himself, you probably aren't going to be able to overcome that unless kobe returns to near prime form and remains healthy.

lakers probably weren't going to be able to turn it around in the next two yrs anyway, so personally don't care what kobe got paid. keeping it at only two yrs was the key.

Management messed up.. The decision making has been subpar to say the least.
Why give him that contract at that time. Who were they bidding against?
Kobe wasn't going anywhere!
Don't get me wrong I love Kobe and he deserves evey cent but in the context of this CBA he is not worth all that money!

Management is not impressing me and I wonder what the hell is going on.

likashing wrote:I'm a troll from Northern California. Is it a general consensus that Kobe (or his agents/managers) had 0% idea and a $48.5M extension showed up in front of him?

Any chance that this is just Kobe's PR machine running? Is it even possible that no exchange among them on how much Kobe expected to be paid? e.g. "Nah I don't plan to be Duncan" or "Look at all the $20M players and none of them are even at my level" etc etc

Jeanie Buss herself said her, Jim, and even the other Buss kids all agreed on the numbers then brought it to him over Kobe bringing it to them. They made sure he was the highest paid guy in the league just barely over the next two years and will edge KG out all time by a bit. They did it as much for the Lakers brand as Kobes brand. Kobe without a doubt, even when this deal finished is grossly underpaid and undercompensated for what he's drew. Also they need to correct the image of all the coaching failures, the inept way they handled dealing Fish and Lamar, the in fighting, losing Dwight, wtf, and saying look how we treat our legend is the best chance they got at correcting the **** Mitch, Jeanie, and Jim fd up

kblo247 wrote:

likashing wrote:I'm a troll from Northern California. Is it a general consensus that Kobe (or his agents/managers) had 0% idea and a $48.5M extension showed up in front of him?

Any chance that this is just Kobe's PR machine running? Is it even possible that no exchange among them on how much Kobe expected to be paid? e.g. "Nah I don't plan to be Duncan" or "Look at all the $20M players and none of them are even at my level" etc etc

Jeanie Buss herself said her, Jim, and even the other Buss kids all agreed on the numbers then brought it to him over Kobe bringing it to them. They made sure he was the highest paid guy in the league just barely over the next two years and will edge KG out all time by a bit. They did it as much for the Lakers brand as Kobes brand. Kobe without a doubt, even when this deal finished is grossly underpaid and undercompensated for what he's drew. Also they need to correct the image of all the coaching failures, the inept way they handled dealing Fish and Lamar, the in fighting, losing Dwight, wtf, and saying look how we treat our legend is the best chance they got at correcting the **** Mitch, Jeanie, and Jim fd up

F that. I would have gone with Kobe and started it out like this. Do you want that ring one more time? This is how much it's going to take...

I don't really think it's really that bad. Would it have been nice if he took 10-15m? Yeah, absolutely. But, that didn't happen. We still have a lot of flexibility to do whatever.