With two years left on his deal with the Los Angeles Lakers after signing a contract extension recently, Kobe Bryant may only have two more shots at winning a sixth NBA title. Despite the short window of opportunity, Kobe apparently wants no part in the decision making process this summer for the Lakers.
Kobe spoke to the media before the 2014 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday and let it be known that he’ll be hands off in terms of the decisions made by the Lakers in the off-season according to Brett Pollakoff of Pro Basketball Talk:
“In all honesty, I don’t want it,” Bryant said, when asked if he expected to have more input in front office decisions this summer. “That’s what they do. I’m not a general manager. I don’t know about scouting players and doing things of that nature, so I’ll let them do their job. They have obviously done a phenomenal job at it for years, so I’m not going to jump in the way. All I ask is if something is going to go down, just let me know about it beforehand so I don’t hear about it on a ticker or something. But that’s about it.”
At this point in time, there’s no telling what will happen before the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 20 or over the course of the summer in free agency. It seems as though the Lakers are leaning toward making an impact in free agency during the summer of 2015 rather than the upcoming summer.
Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh can all become free agents this summer, but it seems like a foregone conclusion that all of these perennial All-Stars will stay with their current teams. Anthony was the most likely to opt-out considering the state of the New York Knicks, but he recently came out saying he’ll take less to stay in New York long-term.
Needless to say, the future is uncertain to say the least for the Lakers. Kobe taking a step back and letting Mitch Kupchak and company figure things out is a smart move, but there’s no telling if the storied franchise can turn it around in the twilight of Kobe’s career.
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