Kobe agrees to contact extension with Lakers

[wutevahung]

i don't understand some of the outrages in this thread.

- kobe don't care about winning anymore! just wants to get paid and chase scoring titles.
if you were kobe, why would you think that you are not good enough anymore? albeit he is coming off a major injury, but he absolutely killed it last year, and was definitely good enough to be the best player on the title team. If kobe is not confident enough to demand that salary, that would not even be the kobe we know, and it would just show how much the injury has affected him.

- lakers management made a mistake
you took care of your franchise players, who still has couple years left in his prime probably, and is the main source of income for the franchise. It not only makes sense economically, it also shows other players in the league or future lakers players that Lakers have loyalty toward their players, and that kind of reputation goes a long way. Players didn't want to just play in LA, they wanted to play for Lakers.

Imagine if Kobe asked for 24, and Lakers low-balled him with 15 and won't budge to anything higher. There is no possible good outcome in this situation, even if they saved that 10 mil per year that they would make back on Kobe.

[Alienware]

This will make him the highest paid player of all time, right?

[An Unbiased Fan]

Im sure the Lakers can give Kobe 48m/2yrs without flinching considering their revenue from tv deals. You still gotta construct a roster to compete within the cap though , its not baseball. I guess they know their ceiling.

I think when you look at the 2014 FA list, there isn't a whole lot of money to be spent. Lakers have always looked to trades for roster changes in general. They can still sign Pau if they want and have 13 mill of cap room for a key starter.

[Hussien Fatal]

Great signing for LA. Lakers retain a Top 5 player, and still have cap room and Pau's expiring to play with. I tend to think they're maneuvering for a semi-big trade.

This isnt 2010 its about to be 2014, kobe is by no means still a top 5 player, those days of impact are behind him.

[Mediocrity]

While I understand it from the Lakers management point of view, the only way to interpret this from Kobe's point of view is that he is selfish and does not care about winning anymore. I mean, he has made 280 million in his career, and that is not counting all of the endorsement money he has made. I really do not think there is anyway fans can argue that.

[Mr MoJo Risin]

For those who think that the Lakers FO blindly gave Kobe this contract out of faith, well they don't work that way. The Lakers FO will have a vision/Strategic plan. They have far more knowledge about running a business than any of us and having a championship pedigree, they have the rings to back up this claim.

[LastNameEver]

Im sure the Lakers can give Kobe 48m/2yrs without flinching considering their revenue from tv deals. You still gotta construct a roster to compete within the cap though , its not baseball. I guess they know their ceiling.

I think when you look at the 2014 FA list, there isn't a whole lot of money to be spent. Lakers have always looked to trades for roster changes in general. They can still sign Pau if they want and have 13 mill of cap room for a key starter.

Yeah, although I really thought they would make a run at Melo. Presumably they still can, but fielding the rest of the team would be tough

[Trader_Joe]

He will come off the books in 2016 when all the following could be unrestricted:

LBJ
Durant
Howard
Love
Bosh
Hibbert
Noah
Lopez

etc.

So length wise it's perfect.

[An Unbiased Fan]

Great signing for LA. Lakers retain a Top 5 player, and still have cap room and Pau's expiring to play with. I tend to think they're maneuvering for a semi-big trade.

This isnt 2010 its about to be 2014, kobe is by no means still a top 5 player, those days of impact are behind him.

Who are the Top 5 players in the NBA?

[Talent Chaser]

For those who think that the Lakers FO blindly gave Kobe this contract out of faith, well they don't work that way. The Lakers FO will have a vision/Strategic plan. They have far more knowledge about running a business than any of us and having a championship pedigree, they have the rings to back up this claim.

Then why would they give Kobe that contract? He's not a #1 option anymore and this really hurts their flexibility in the future. If Kobe was about building a contender he wouldn't have taken this much money, yet all you ever hear about is how he wants to win at all costs. Ha, what a joke. The crazy thing is I bet Kobe thinks he is actually worth what he just signed for.

[Joel Embust]

"Really baby? You settled for $48.5M ? "

[An Unbiased Fan]

Im sure the Lakers can give Kobe 48m/2yrs without flinching considering their revenue from tv deals. You still gotta construct a roster to compete within the cap though , its not baseball. I guess they know their ceiling.

I think when you look at the 2014 FA list, there isn't a whole lot of money to be spent. Lakers have always looked to trades for roster changes in general. They can still sign Pau if they want and have 13 mill of cap room for a key starter.

Yeah, although I really thought they would make a run at Melo. Presumably they still can, but fielding the rest of the team would be tough

I think they are a couple issues with Melo.

1) He doesn't get along with MDA, and the Lakers are really happy with the job Mike has done with this young squad. last year he was working with Mike Brown's players, but now they're much more athletic and younger.

2) Melo is 30+, and his impact is overrated, IMO

3) If you're the Lakers, do you really want to spend max money on Melo? Or maybe get 2-3 good pieces to fill out the roster.

[Antrim]

Great news for the rest of the league.

[Ettorefm]

For those who think that the Lakers FO blindly gave Kobe this contract out of faith, well they don't work that way. The Lakers FO will have a vision/Strategic plan. They have far more knowledge about running a business than any of us and having a championship pedigree, they have the rings to back up this claim.

Then why would they give Kobe that contract? He's not a #1 option anymore and this really hurts their flexibility in the future. If Kobe was about building a contender he wouldn't have taken this much money, yet all you ever hear about is how he wants to win at all costs. Ha, what a joke.

.
Kobe's not a first option? Are you serious?
.
Posters these days Wait, so Paul George is a first option in a contender but Kobe is not anymore? The dude that last season had 27/6/6 on 46%FG and a 23 PER cannot be a first option?
.
Kobe was a top 5 player last season, at 35. 1st options can go till #10 or lower in the league's top players mostly - Parker, Curry and Melo are the first option and aren't top 5 players (in my opinion)

[ShowTimeERA]

To those panicking, management didn't make this deal without looking at the big picture. 2014 free agency is nothing more than a bunch of big star names who aren't leaving their teams. 2015 and 16 are the years to look for. Look for Love in 15 and Westbrook in 16.

[An Unbiased Fan]

For those who think that the Lakers FO blindly gave Kobe this contract out of faith, well they don't work that way. The Lakers FO will have a vision/Strategic plan. They have far more knowledge about running a business than any of us and having a championship pedigree, they have the rings to back up this claim.

Then why would they give Kobe that contract? He's not a #1 option anymore and this really hurts their flexibility in the future. If Kobe was about building a contender he wouldn't have taken this much money, yet all you ever hear about is how he wants to win at all costs. Ha, what a joke.

How is a 25/5/5 player not a 1st option? Kobe IS worth that contract impact-wise. Now if there was a big FA they felt they could get, I'm sure they would have waited on a deal. But Mitch prefers trades to signings.

[Talent Chaser]

For those who think that the Lakers FO blindly gave Kobe this contract out of faith, well they don't work that way. The Lakers FO will have a vision/Strategic plan. They have far more knowledge about running a business than any of us and having a championship pedigree, they have the rings to back up this claim.

Then why would they give Kobe that contract? He's not a #1 option anymore and this really hurts their flexibility in the future. If Kobe was about building a contender he wouldn't have taken this much money, yet all you ever hear about is how he wants to win at all costs. Ha, what a joke.

.
Kobe's not a first option? Are you serious?
.
Posters these days Wait, so Paul George is a first option in a contender but Kobe is not anymore? The dude that last season had 27/6/6 on 46%FG and a 23 PER cannot be a first option?

He's obviously not a first option. Have you ever heard of this thing called defense? Kobe hasn't played that for a while now. If he is a true #1 option why couldn't he lead a team with the best center in the game out of the first round? Let's not act like Kobe isn't going to be slowed down by his Achilles either, that's a devastating injury for a player who has played as many minutes over his career as he has. He's going to be a glorified jump-shooter at this point in his career. Father Time is undefeated. Not to mention the Lakers handed out this contract before even seeing him play in a game post-injury.

[Tacoma]

Wow, just Wow!!

This is beyond belief. Yeah, Kobe is still a top level SG, but the Lakers are not Championship contenders over the next 2 years with or without Kobe, so this is just throwing seriously huge money to keep the treadmill going. I don't see how this makes any financial sense to the Lakers. Why did they even bother to lock out the players in 2011 and keep doing sh** like this? This league is majorly screwed up.

[Ettorefm]

Kobe hasn't played defense since 2007 and he still has been top 5 every year and also won two titles and the finals MVP
.
And you are right, Kobe failed to get the Lakers past the 1st round last year...because he was INJURIED

[Veez]

Then why would they give Kobe that contract? He's not a #1 option anymore and this really hurts their flexibility in the future. If Kobe was about building a contender he wouldn't have taken this much money, yet all you ever hear about is how he wants to win at all costs. Ha, what a joke.

.
Kobe's not a first option? Are you serious?
.
Posters these days Wait, so Paul George is a first option in a contender but Kobe is not anymore? The dude that last season had 27/6/6 on 46%FG and a 23 PER cannot be a first option?

He's obviously not a first option. Have you ever heard of this thing called defense? Kobe hasn't played that for a while now. If he is a true #1 option why couldn't he lead a team with the best center in the game out of the first round? Let's not act like Kobe isn't going to be slowed down by his Achilles either, that's a devastating injury for a player who has played as many minutes over his career as he has. He's going to be a glorified jump-shooter at this point in his career. Father Time is undefeated.

wait, wtf are you talking about? he wasn't even playing in the playoffs, how can you lead anyone out of the 1st round while sitting on the bench?

and you do know nash wasn't playing, nor was blake..or meeks...and dwight had basically shut down already.

lol go to sleep man