Kobe Bryant Comments on Difference Between His Contract and Tim Duncan's
The Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs square off Friday night at the Staples Center, as two of the NBA's biggest names in Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan headline the marquee matchup.
But both celebrated squads are in quite different places. San Antonio is the reigning NBA champion, while Bryant's Lakers are just 1-7 this season. Bryant has come under fire for his exorbitant contract that's limited L.A.'s ability to add pieces around him, while Duncan has helped keep the Spurs' nucleus intact.
Sam Amick of USA Today reported what Bryant had to say about the disparity between his current deal (two years, $48.5 million) compared to Duncan's (three years, $30.36 million, per Spotrac.com):
"It's a different market, man. San Antonio's not doing $2 billion TV deals—or $5 billion—so it's a different market. Even with my deal, you have a significant amount of cap space available. But I think the advantage that they've had, and that (Duncan) has had and been very fortunate with, is they've had the same guys since he's been there. That really helps.
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The report refers to a league memo that valued the Lakers with the highest projected profitability in the Association at $100.1 million, while the Spurs were ranked sixth but well behind at $26.1 million.
So Bryant has a point to a degree, but his remark about how the team still has enough room under the salary cap is curious. If the Lakers had more financial flexibility, they'd be able to upgrade the roster and make the team competitive. Instead, Bryant's contract continues to prevent them from doing so.
Jimmy Spencer of Fox Sports feels for Bryant:
Then again, Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo Sports brings up a strong point in his analysis of the situation, also alluding to how Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki has taken a pay cut toward the end of his career:
"Kobe Bryant won't be worth the money he'll make in basketball terms from 2014 through 2016, but he was probably worth more than the maximum contracts he worked on during his prime, and this is a bit of a payback. Toss in the unbelievable amounts of money the Lakers make on their television deal, and the payback seems just. Taking a Dirk or Duncan-sized pay cut would have added to Los Angeles' cap space last summer and next year, but there is a genuine question as to why any boffo free agent would want to play alongside Kobe even with that extra space in hand.
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It took L.A. a long time to bring in Byron Scott as the new head coach, and despite his previous ties to the Lakers as a player, he hasn't had success overseeing an NBA team for a considerable amount of time. Scott wasn't going to revive the team working with such a thin rotation.
Had the Lakers been able to retain someone like Pau Gasol and convinced both Gasol and Bryant to make room for another All-Star, perhaps their outlook for 2014-15 and beyond would be more promising.
Part of what has helped San Antonio sustain success is sound drafting and depth, highlighted by the most recent NBA Finals MVP in Kawhi Leonard. Having the same coach in Gregg Popovich has been a big help as well, while Bryant has lamented going through many multiple systems.
Despite the team's recent struggles, Bryant has plenty to hang his hat on. He's an owner of five NBA championship rings who got to play a good chunk of his career for Phil Jackson. However, it is interesting to ponder what would have happened if L.A. had more roster and coaching stability during Bryant's legendary career.
