Kobe Bryant Extension: Sometimes Numbers Don't Tell the Whole Story

After Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and Executive VP Jim Buss saw Kobe Bryant back on their El Segundo practice floor last week, the team today made sure they'll see a lot more of Mamba in their future by signing Bryant to a $48.5 million two-year contract extension.

Bryant—who is earning $30,453,000 this year during the final year of his contract—is slated to earn $23,500,000 next season and $25,000,000 the year after with his latest extension.

This represents something of a pay cut for Bryant, who just this summer held a firm stance to the contrary.

Pay cut, in this case, is a relative term as Bryant will still remain the highest-paid player in the league.

Whether Bryant deserves the money or whether the Lakers could afford to pay him given the lofty championship aspirations continually orbiting the franchise are two completely different questions.

Organizationally, it brings certainty to the brand.

Financially, the situation is murky.

But when we step away from the ESPN Trade Machine, put aside the analytics and the financial alchemy, and simply look at what Bryant means to the Lakers and the city of Los Angeles, it's fairly simple: the $48.5 million extension awarded to the Lakers' all-time leading scorer was the right thing to do.

So now that it's done, what's next?

Will Bryant be his old self coming back from an Achilles injury?

Will Mamba mesh in a Mike D'Antoni up-and-down offense?

Will the Lakers be doomed to NBA purgatory: good enough to make the playoffs for an early-round exit while not bad enough to position themselves for a strong lottery pick in the draft or free agency?

There are more than enough tea leaves to be read, not least of which is the fact that this extension came after Bryant returned to the practice floor and Lakers brass was confident he'll be able to return to form.

While we don't have all the answers, we definitely do know a few things.

Winning is not a light switch, which means the Lakers will never tank.

The winning culture that has been built over 50 years cannot be put on hold for a year to punch a ticket to the upcoming 2014 NBA draft for the chance to land a franchise player.

Nor will the city of Los Angeles tolerate an inferior basketball product. Entertainment alternatives are so boundless in the city that when the team's 320-game sellout streak at STAPLES Center ended two weeks ago, executives in the Kobe-less Lakers organization surely felt its grip on its fans slip away.

So with the Mamba signed through 2016, everyone from the Buss Family to minority owners to Time Warner Cable to fans everywhere all breathed a sigh of relief.

Sure, on a scale of $1 per year to $30 million per year, basketball fans will land on some magic number as to what they feel a 35-year-old Bryant should be paid in the twilight of his career.

But there's no denying the fact that to the Lakers organization, to the team and its brand and to the passionate collective colloquially known as Lakers nation, Bryant is worth so much more than a paycheck.

As trusted Lakers columnist Kevin Ding puts it, Bryant has "earned every penny of everything the Lakers could ever pay him."

Vince Lombardi, legendary Green Bay Packers coach and one of the most respected figures in sport, boils down the winning equation:

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Winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.

"

Through this lens, there's no comparing Bryant's will to win with the rest of the league.

It's Bryant and then everyone else.

We can armchair manage the roster, free agency and the NBA draft all we want, but just like the Lakers are proving this year by exceeding all expectations and achieving a .500 record by beating some of the West's toughest teams (e.g. Clippers, Rockets and Warriors), we simply don't know what kind of basketball product we're going to get until we see it on the floor and in the flesh.

Last year is a stark reminder of this simple truth when a dream team of four future Hall of Famers (Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant) filled the Lakers starting five only to flame out in the most dramatic of fashions.

After today, what we do know is that the Lakers greatest winner and it's fiercest warrior will be on the floor for the Lakers' next two campaigns.

And so long as Bryant is on the floor—whether its the brash 21-year-old with stars in his eyes or the crafty 35-year-old with wisdom under his belt—the O'Brien trophy will always be in reach.

Some say we're buying time. I say we're buying hope.

And if indeed this is the last contract Bryant signs before hanging up his shoes, it's a classy move by an organization that stood by its word to want nothing more than Bryant to retire as a Laker and is emblematic of the Buss family's tradition to take care of its greatest players.

Yes, many will point to the age, the numbers, the luxury tax, the free agents and the 2014 NBA draft in the wake of Bryant's $48.5 million extension, but it's hard not to imagine that somewhere in the clouds, somewhere high up in the sky, the late Dr. Jerry Buss—with his affectionate grin and youthful spirit—is smiling down on his team today.

From the hills to the heavens, there's reason to celebrate: Kobe Bryant is and will continue to be a Laker.