Kobe agrees to contact extension with Lakers

[LastNameEver]

Kobe's reply on Instagram to someone that commented: “Loyalty only to his bank account! Should have taken pay cut to bring in talent if he really cared about winning legacy.”

Is this real ? he really overusing pound signs like a teenager

[derekc]

Kobe is a G

[rayofsunshine]

And just how did those pay cuts work out for KG and Duncan?

[Stills12]

Turrible work by Lakers FO. At this point Kobe is 35 years old, coming off an injury and has stated multiple times that he wants to retire as a Laker. Yet you pay him as if he is in his prime and willing to bolt the next chance he gets..lol

Not the greatest show of will to win by Kobe either. I think at this point pretty much everyone expected him to take a paycut like Duncan and others have done and not be that much greedy.

[hayden]

Kobe's reply on Instagram to someone that commented: “Loyalty only to his bank account! Should have taken pay cut to bring in talent if he really cared about winning legacy.”

Is this real ? he really overusing pound signs like a teenager

they hashtags, homie. get with it.

[MistyMountain20]

Kobe's reply on Instagram to someone that commented: “Loyalty only to his bank account! Should have taken pay cut to bring in talent if he really cared about winning legacy.”

Is this real ? he really overusing pound signs like a teenager

Pound signs...

[Shot Clock]

Sorry gotta say it:

Garnett took a serious paycut simply to help his team at age 27.
Duncan NEVER earned more than $23 per mill despite easily having the power to do so.

Kobe meanwhile pushes to remain the highest paid player per year into his late 30s even as its clear the team will go nowhere without signing other major players, and still some will praise him for his will to win above all else.

What exactly would it take to hammer in his extreme level of selfishness to people?

Well to be fair, none of them have to go home to Vanessa every night and explain a paycut.

[Rasho_libre]

Kobe's reply on Instagram to someone that commented: “Loyalty only to his bank account! Should have taken pay cut to bring in talent if he really cared about winning legacy.”

Is this real ? he really overusing pound signs like a teenager

Nah man, he's the old mould of players that doesn't resort to social media. Way too competitive and his will to win is unparalleled you'll never catch him tweeting things like " them boyz be actin a fool".

[LastNameEver]

Kobe's reply on Instagram to someone that commented: “Loyalty only to his bank account! Should have taken pay cut to bring in talent if he really cared about winning legacy.”

Is this real ? he really overusing pound signs like a teenager

they hashtags, homie. get with it.

Dont be using ebonics wit me cuz

[Rasho_libre]

And just how did those pay cuts work out for KG and Duncan?

Duncan was in the finals last year and was a hair away from his fifth title . Kg won in 08 and almost upset Miami in 2012.

[The4thHorseman]

Whatever you think of Kobe, that's an insane contract given the circumstances.

Must be bittersweet for Lakers fans.

Not really. it would be insane if the 2014 FA class had much to offer. There are real benefits to giving Kobe a loaded contract of only 2 years, because that means they have a lot of cap room to work with in 2016 when KD is out there, and still capable of going after Love in 2015 who's max is something in the 16-18m range.

On the flipside, if Kobe takes a 15 m salary,a nd LA signs Melo, and 2 other costly players, they would demand contracts longer than 2 years, effectively ending a chance at those 2. And to boot, that Laker team wouldn't have enough to contend.

Who's going to want to sign there now knowing that Kobe's strictly looking to increase his historical stats?

[Shot Clock]

Sorry gotta say it:

Garnett took a serious paycut simply to help his team at age 27.
Duncan NEVER earned more than $23 per mill despite easily having the power to do so.

Kobe meanwhile pushes to remain the highest paid player per year into his late 30s even as its clear the team will go nowhere without signing other major players, and still some will praise him for his will to win above all else.

What exactly would it take to hammer in his extreme level of selfishness to people?

Kobe's deal doesn't hurt LA's ability to sign major players, it helps them. Tieing up capsace on mid-level guys from the 2014 class WOULD prevent Love, KD, or Westbrook from being able to come here though. The 2 years length is key, as is the ability to stretch Nash's contract, and Pau's expiring.

I'm kinda amazed people don't see Mitch/Jim's plan.

Yah It would be terrible to sign Kobe for two years 10 mil and have room for a couple more 2 year contracts

[microfib4thewin]

Why is the Lakers management getting bagged for this? If Kobe plays hardball and is not willing to concede any less than that max FA slot then the Lakers are going risk having bad publicity by having Kobe leave. Just look at the Laker fans here now, over half of them are okay with the team overpaying Kobe. Imagine the typical Laker fan you find in the street. You think those people would sit well with the Lakers not paying Kobe no matter how ridiculous the amount is?

This is all on Kobe, and with this extension he can no longer blame FO incompetence if the team cannot be competitive.

[LLcoleJ]

Kobe made it known he was not taking a big paycut this summer.

The Lakers have consistently made decisions that are best for Kobe but not always best for themselves. There is not an organization in sports that says lets take our aging superstar coming off a career killing injury and make him the highest paid player in the sport.

Lets look what just happened here. A player coming off a major injury at 36 who has not played this year. Who was still signed for this year. Giving the Lakers complete flexibility to wait and see how Kobe came back. Then next summer structure a deal around what they could or couldn't do in free agency. Pretty much said screw that flexibility stuff lets just give Kobe another big deal. Almost as if they were afraid he was about to bolt. It makes zero sense for the franchise. It only benefits Kobe.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/405022587396169728[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/405030654930202624[/tweet]

I guess you missed these but believe what you want.

That is ridiculous if you buy into that. If Kobe said pay me 15 million you think the Lakers were going to say No Kobe we have to pay you more. Please.

Few years ago Rashard Lewis signed max contract with the Magic. Rashard Lewis agent made it known at the time he was signing the first max deal they could get. Otis Smith knew that Rashard picked to meet with the Magic first because they were the only team that could sign Rashard to the max with a S&T. Otis knew he could offer Rashard 12 million per and it still be more than any other team but Rashard's camp would consider that a slap in the face since the Magic could actually offer him the max. Rashard lands from Seattle and Otis Smith ran to give him the max. They knew the Magic must be willing to give them a max deal because everyone in the league knew Rashard's agent was searching for a max contract.

If Kobe Bryant is telling people I want to win and my salary doesn't matter. Lets do what is best to get the best squad we can. The Lakers aren't running to make Kobe the highest paid player in the league. How does that benefit them? Just like with Rashard. Just like most negotiations you let it be known what your kind of looking for. They were hearing that Kobe wanted to be the highest paid player in the league again. That he wasn't planning on taking a big pay cut. They were not about to come to Kobe with anything less than that.

Of course if I bought into what you say I be inclined to say that the Lakers have become the dumbest organization in sports. That apparently the cap and building a team with smart decisions is no longer a priority. The off spring of an owner that once didn't think Shaq was going to be worth his contract demands was now running to pay an even older player coming off a major injury. With not one justification on how this actual benefits the Lakers.

Good faith? Kobe makes 32 million this year. His number after luxury tax is some insane number like 80 million. The fact that the Lakers didn't amnesty him would have been good faith enough. If they didn't believe he could come back they would just amnesty him and see about making a play in last years free agency. Saying we need to even go further in good faith by adding 2 more years to that 32 is just stupid.

in this post Rashard Lewis was compared to Kobe. Carry on.

[The4thHorseman]

Why is the Lakers management getting bagged for this? If Kobe plays hardball and is not willing to concede any less than that max FA slot then the Lakers are going risk having bad publicity by having Kobe leave. Just look at the Laker fans here now, over half of them are okay with the team overpaying Kobe. Imagine the typical Laker fan you find in the street. You think those people would sit well with the Lakers not paying Kobe no matter how ridiculous the amount is?

This is all on Kobe, and with this extension he can no longer blame FO incompetence if the team cannot be competitive.

Taking risks reap rewards. Contending sooner is the reward and ultimately another title.

You win and fans say....."Kobe who?"

[Doctor MJ]

Kobe's deal doesn't hurt LA's ability to sign major players, it helps them. Tieing up capsace on mid-level guys from the 2014 class WOULD prevent Love, KD, or Westbrook from being able to come here though. The 2 years length is key, as is the ability to stretch Nash's contract, and Pau's expiring.

I'm kinda amazed people don't see Mitch/Jim's plan.

I understand why Jim would feel desperate enough to pay Kobe whatever he wanted right now, and why he would be glad not to have to guarantee Kobe money for too many years in advance, but the franchise would be better shape if Kobe were taking the same kinds of pay cuts every other superstar takes.

The fact that this doesn't cost the Lakes as much as it possibly could doesn't change these facts. Kobe's not signing a contract that continues to make him the highest paid guy in the game despite no longer being anywhere near the best guy in the game out of generosity, and he's certainly not doing it out of any kind of need. It's clearly just extremely important to him even now to get his before worrying about his team.

[bigpimpatl]

Sorry gotta say it:

Garnett took a serious paycut simply to help his team at age 27.
Duncan NEVER earned more than $23 per mill despite easily having the power to do so.

Kobe meanwhile pushes to remain the highest paid player per year into his late 30s even as its clear the team will go nowhere without signing other major players, and still some will praise him for his will to win above all else.

What exactly would it take to hammer in his extreme level of selfishness to people?

Kobe's deal doesn't hurt LA's ability to sign major players, it helps them. Tieing up capsace on mid-level guys from the 2014 class WOULD prevent Love, KD, or Westbrook from being able to come here though. The 2 years length is key, as is the ability to stretch Nash's contract, and Pau's expiring.

I'm kinda amazed people don't see Mitch/Jim's plan.

you can't be serious. How can any Lakers fan who believes in winning a championship convince themselves that a 35 year old kobe, 40yr old Nash, and (most likely) a re-signed Pau get them to the promised land? How does that help you?! that's potentially $42mm in cap taken up by three players way past their prime!

How is that better than potentially waiving everyone/renouncing all rights and build back up? On top of that this is the only year the Lakers have their 1st round pick out of the next 3. As we've seen in the past, players want to play for teams that have some talent around them. I sincerely don't see a plan here to do anything.

[LLcoleJ]

When all else fails just say "5 titles"

Sounds good to me. What do you got?

[Heat fan06]

Too much

[Shot Clock]

Who's going to want to sign there now knowing that Kobe's strictly looking to increase his historical stats?

I think LA has already accepted that. Kobe is protected in LA and everyone I mean everyone else is thrown under the Buss. Shaq, Gasol, Howard and everyone else. I mean who would really want to play with there with him? He's not interested in handing the torch over.

So ride this out for a few years and hope you can pull off a Miami in 2016. Although without having any pieces in place it may be hard.