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“We will continue to pursue every avenue possible to improve our team with Kobe Bryant as the cornerstone.” - Dr. Jerry Buss 5/31/2007
Last Wednesday, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Buss indicated that Kobe Bryant isn’t “untouchable” after all and the Lakers had considered trading him over the off-season.
Buss also went on to say that he would continue to listen to trade offers for Bryant.
“I would certainly listen,” Buss said. “At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It’s just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit. You can’t keep too many loyalties. You’ve got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it.”
“You have to get comparable value when you make a trade,” he said. “It’s very hard to trade somebody like him because people who have enough material to make it worthwhile are usually contenders and they don’t want to make the trade.”
Kobe has four years and $88.6 million left on his seven-year contract but can opt-out in two years.
“I tend not to think in basketball terms that many years down the road because things change so dramatically, but he could test the waters at that point,” Buss said. “If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we win between now and then so that it doesn’t come up.”
Buss also addressed Kobe’s frustration at the lack of talent surrounding him: “I think what he’s thinking is, ‘Let me play basketball with some people I know I can win with.’ When he’s on the All-Star teams and all these things, I can imagine how it must feel for him — everybody catching the passes and everybody just doing everything right. It is frustrating. It must be more frustrating for him playing than it is for me.”
So why the sudden turn of events?
I think Jerry Buss had grown weary with the perception that Kobe Bryant is owner and GM of the Lakers. To a certain extent, he probably feels betrayed by Bryant’s trade request and lambasting of the Laker front office and ownership. The Lakers stood by Kobe throughout the accusations of rape and while they have failed to adequately build around him, he is clearly their “cornerstone.”
Will the Lakers trade Kobe?
No. Buss, admittedly, “cannot afford to let him go” unless given “comparable talent, if there is such a thing.”
Guess what? “Such a thing” doesn’t exist.
Chicago, Dallas, and New York have been rumored as possible destinations but none of those teams can offer close to “comparable talent” for Kobe Bryant.
Love him or hate him, Kobe Bryant is the best basketball player in the world. Bryant led the league in scoring the past two years while being named to the All-League and All-Defensive First Teams. Kobe scored 50 points in 10 of the 77 games in which he played during the 2006-2007 season and is the only true two-way player in the game, capable of taking over offensively AND defensively.
The Lakers will not trade Kobe to a Western Conference opponet for fear that he’d come back to the Staples Center and drop 50 on them multiple times a year and make no mistake - he would.
Dr. Buss’ comments might lead one to believe that he is taking back control of the Lakers but Kobe still controls his destiny. Bryant posseses the NBA’s only active no-trade clause so even if one of the Eastern Conference’s teams offered a package that Buss deemed “comparable talent” and was within 25 percent of Kobe’s $19.5 million dollar salary, Kobe could still elect to remain with Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher.
Lost in all of this turmoil is the fact that Bryant adds considerable value to the Laker franchise. The Lakers, owned by Buss and Philip Anshutz, have an estimated $568 million dollar value and Bryant’s star power is why they remain the hottest ticket in town. L.A. has the league’s highest average ticket price, at $94, and Kobe’s jersey is the NBA’s best seller. There isn’t a player or package of players L.A. could get in a trade for Bryant who could match his box-office appeal and marketability.
Remember when season ticket holders pined for Phil Jackson’s return? Imagine the uproar if the Lakers traded Kobe.
Buss would be wise to learn from the departure of Shaquille O’Neal and do everything in his power to avoid becoming the owner who traded away two of the greatest players of all-time.
Buss may feel “betrayed” and Jackson and Bryant may be frustrated at the lack of talent surrounding them but I think all three men want to win and winning solves everything in professional sports.
In Honolulu for training camp, the Lakers appear to have put Kobe’s trade me-don’t trade me comments behind them. “I went around and asked some of the players how they felt about it, and none of the players took offense to any of the words that were spoken,” Jackson said. “They said that a lot was said back in June. Now we’re . . . ready to go in October and we’re ready to play ball.”
“I think this is a better team than we had last year. I think any time you can win 50 games, you’re a contender,” Buss said. “You definitely have a chance at that point. . . . I think if we’re healthy, that we’re capable of 50-plus games. I really do.”
“I had a basketball club in Chicago at the end of my stay there that had some disaffection with some of the people in the franchise and they were able to unify around the team and win the championship,” Jackson said. “That’s the important thing, is how are you going to unify? That’s the important thing for Kobe, that’s the message for him. If we unify and play ball, we’ll be all right.”
“I think the important thing for everybody to understand is that I want to bring a title back to L.A,” Bryant said. “That’s priority No. 1 for me, is to bring a title back here. I just have to trust that we’re all on the same page in terms of getting that done.”
Lines have been drawn and questions of “loyalty” remain.
The answers to those questions will only be found in this season’s wins and losses column.
Win and Kobe Bryant remains a “Laker for life.” Lose and the Lakers will be forced to trade one of basketball’s all-time greats.
