Kobe Bryant's Contract Extension Has Nothing to Do with Wins and Losses

You can be sure that Kobe Bryant’s new $48.5 million deal—the one that will make him the highest-paid player in the NBA for two more years—is about one thing, and it isn’t basketball. It’s business.

The Los Angeles Lakers are the most storied, most widely branded franchise in the history of the game. They know a thing or two about how to perpetuate their lore.

This latest move is as demonstrative of their market savvy as any.

By locking down Bryant for what's likely the rest of his career and paying tribute to him in the most American language there is (money), the front office is showing it knows the value of a concept that’s been as powerful to the NBA’s success as any: legend.

Kobe Bryant is an icon. He’s the pipeline to another era of basketball—to a time before LeBron James’ rule and a glowing beacon amid the league’s aching Michael Jordan hangover.

He’s carried the torch for the most vaunted kind of stardom, maintaining fame and dominance for well over a decade with one team, playing through any and all injuries, torching record books and scaring shy teammates away from his title-only sights.

A throwback franchise man in the mold of His Airness, they simply don’t make too many men like Kobe anymore.

It’s close to certain that a statue of the man will be erected somewhere near the Staples Center down the line. His contract is all but a sworn commitment from the team not to miss any opportunity to celebrate his story.

The Lakers have now planned what seems to be a two-year, last-of-everything tour for Kobe, and the circuit is sure to give the massive fanbase the warmest of fuzzies, allowing new generations yet to become faithful about the moral pallor of LakerLand.

But Kobe’s trophy-holding days are all but over. Regardless of what kind of player he is now—whether he can transition from his latest, most devastating injury and become a top player once again—the Lakers simply aren’t built to contend in the daunting Western Conference.

Any suggestion that re-signing Bryant was aimed at winning now, that his long-professed monomania for championships will remain intact, is pure lip service on his and the team’s part. And it’s hard to see what moves the team could make to change its competitive scenario. Bryant’s new pay rate hamstrings L.A., and the looming options in free agency are not game-changers anyway.

Does the team have a legitimate shot at bringing in LeBron James? Probably not—no one outside of the Miami Heat seems to, as it’s hard to believe the King will leave his chief advisor and diplomat in Pat Riley.

More fathomable—but still slim—is the team’s chance to snag Carmelo Anthony. But such an acquisition would certainly not return it to the Promised Land.

Instead, Lakers management took a look at their roster—assembled salary-wise to give them flexibility in the near future—and the landscape of superstar commitments for the next few years and mustered up enough internal honesty to make the same calculation as the rest of us.

In place of the championship they can’t soon achieve, they’re giving their fans the next best thing they can: a party.

Declarations of Kobe’s demise as a player may be premature, but even last season saw him struggle to take his weakened team toward even mere playoff contention. Despite Bryant playing near top form (boasting a 23.0 player efficiency rating), the team floated near .500 throughout the year, surging near the end to collect 45 total wins before Bryant’s injury and get quickly dismissed by the San Antonio Spurs in Round 1.

Fortunes for the immediate future haven’t changed much at all. If the playoffs started today, the 11-12 Lakers would not be a part of them. The Western Conference is a suffocating beast unlikely to ease up on them, and the team’s lack of avenues to change this has led it to its KobePalooza, an all-ages festival of award-winning nostalgia and family-friendly glee.

In lieu of a shining present, the Lakers are utilizing their indomitable cushion of the past.