Since his retirement from basketball over two years ago, many wondered how involved Kobe Bryant would be with the Los Angels Lakers franchise.
These questions have especially been asked since the tenure of Rob Pelinka as general manager, as many believed this was Jeanie Buss’ way of combining past success with a move towards the future, especially when it came for free agency.
Because of this, it made perfect sense to ask Bryant is he would be involved with luring free agents to Los Angeles. Bryant had always been adamantly against formally aligning himself with the Lakers in his post-playing career.
And yet, these questions seem to keep bombarding him, and even more so as he becomes further removed from playing.
The most recent version of these questions came on the “HoopsHype Podcast with Alex Kennedy,” where Bryant explained he wasn’t opposed to assisting the Lakers in free agency, but it just wouldn’t come in the form of attending meetings:
“Well, no. I’ll call. I mean, I’m not going to be in the meeting. Listen, I’m not a part of the organization in any kind of professional way, so for the player themselves, if the players have questions, or if [the Lakers] want me to reach out and call a player or something like that, talk to the player and give my two cents on what it was like to play in this market, I’ll certainly do that. But in terms of being part of the meeting in any official way, the answer is no. But like I said, Rob and Magic both have flexibility in their cap and great young talent. I’ve known Rob a really long time. This dude is as smart as they come, man. He’ll figure it out.”
Bryant always had a mind for basketball, as his high basketball IQ was praised throughout his career. This is why, for a majority of his career, it seemed destined for Bryant to take a front office role with the Lakers once he retired.
However, as Bryant’s career came to a close, he made his stance very clear. He did not want to stay fully connected to the sport. He would rather find a way to use the sport to pursue other endeavors.
Since his playing days ended, Bryant has started his own studio company and won an Oscar Award, among other accomplishments. It is because of this that it is no surprise that Bryant has no urge to attend the meetings to help lure the likes Lebron James and Paul George over to L.A.
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