Before the 2014-15 NBA season, Kobe Bryant signed a two-year, $48 million contract extension that would keep him as one of the league's highest paid players and the richest on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant was ridiculed by many pundits for the move, especially since the Lakers are struggling right now with the scrub team they have. In addition, many wondered why the Black Mamba didn't just take a team-friendly deal like Tim Duncan did on the San Antonio Spurs to keep his team as contenders.
Bryant has answered those questions, and basically said he took the deal because the Lakers could afford to do so.
“It’s a different market, man,” Bryant said, via Yahoo Sports. “San Antonio’s not doing $2 billion TV deals – or $5 billion – so it’s a different market. Even with my deal, you have a significant amount of cap space available. But I think the advantage that they’ve had, and that (Duncan) has had and been very fortunate with, is they’ve had the same guys since he’s been there. That really helps.
“You’ve got Manu there. You’ve got Tony there. Those guys have been through the ups and downs and they have that familiarity, and then they build with pieces around that. The same coach. The same system. Here, I’ve had to go through so many different coaches, so many different systems, it’s crazy. But I love watching (Duncan). What they’ve been able to do is something else.”
Can't blame Kobe for taking the deal. Most players who are offered that kind of deal, especially Kobe who is 36 years old, take it nine times out of 10.
It's not like freeing up cap space would help LA this past offseason anyways. LA had enough to grab a marquee free agent like LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, but didn't. So why should Kobe lose out on some extra millions when no one is going to join?
Can't blame the man for the getting the paper.
