Lakers Trade Rumors: Ric Bucher Wrong in Belief That LA Should Trade Kobe Bryant
Ric Bucher is a great NBA analyst and reporter, but he is dead wrong that the Los Angeles Lakers should trade Kobe Bryant.
According to Mark Medina at The Los Angeles Times, on ESPN’s Tuesday edition of SportsCenter, the reporter said he believed the Lakers' best move would be to trade away Kobe before the March 15th deadline, which would allow them a lot of cap space to maneuver with in the future.
Bryant has three-years and $83.5 million left on his contract, easily making him the highest-paid NBA player and someone who hogs the Lakers’ salary cap.
However, the scenario is near impossible to make happen due to Kobe’s no-trade clause and lack of desire to leave the team. It would also just be downright dumb for the Lakers to do regardless.
The Black Mamba has played his entire illustrious career with the Lake Show and he’s still chugging along just fine, leading the league in scoring at age 33 with 28.7 points per game.
Bryant is true competitor with a thirst for winning unseen since Michael Jordan retired. The Lakers would have zero championships in the past four years instead of two without their superstar.
GM Mitch Kupchak may be frazzled and unsure of how to improve his team at the deadline, but even he knows that losing Kobe would ensure this franchise is in the lottery and not competing for another title.
Executive Jim Buss may not have the best relationship with Bryant, but even Kobe’s harshest detractors know he’s still a top-five player in this league and isn’t going to be declining anytime soon.
While the Lakers do need to start worrying about their future, Bucher must realize that they should not even consider trading Kobe to accomplish those goals.
