Kobe Bryant shuts down suggestion he’d play elsewhere: ‘I’m a Laker for life’
After scoring 18 points in topping the winless Brooklyn Nets on Friday, and before turning his attention to a Sunday matinee showdown with Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks, Kobe Bryant took a moment’s pause to address past speculation about his future plans.
If this season isn’t, in fact, the end of the NBA line for the surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer, the legendary shooting guard wants everyone to know that, should he decide to continue to rage against the dying of the light, he doesn’t plan to fire away for any team but the Los Angeles Lakers. From ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes:
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“I’ve said it so many times. I’m here, I’m a Laker for life,” Bryant said Friday night after his team’s 104-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. “I’m not playing anywhere else, no matter what. It’s just not going to happen. I bleed purple and gold, and that’s just how it’s going to be.”
Bryant spoke in response to speculation that, come the end of the 2015-16 season — which will mark the conclusion of the two-year, $48.5 million contract extension he signed in November of 2013 — he might consider life after Los Angeles, and that a Laker organization seemingly poised to hand the reins of the franchise over to gifted youngsters like Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson might be willing to let him. (Byron Scott, it seems, has not gotten the memo about that youth-movement torch-passing.)
League luminaries like Shaquille O’Neal and Jerry West had previously suggested that, if he remained healthy this year following three straight season-ending injuries, Bryant shouldn’t hang up his high-tops after his 20th NBA season. Phil Jackson, Bryant’s former coach with the Lakers and now the president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, further fanned the flames in September.
“I don’t think this is his last year,” Jackson said at the Knicks’ season-opening media availability. “Might be his last year as a Laker.”
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Jackson added that he believed the 37-year-old Bryant would perform “better than people think” this season — this has, thus far, not been the case at all — and that he’d have multiple offers to continue his NBA career beyond the end of his current contract. Since Jackson now runs an NBA team, that led many to wonder whether he’ll be tendering one of those offers, a sentiment given voice by the ever-popular “anonymous NBA assistant coach” in a preseason piece by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
Anonymous NBA assistant coach: “If he gets through the season healthy, it’s not his last year. Kobe will play for one more year. He won’t leave a team just to chase a ring. But I could see him going to New York because of his connections with Carmelo (Anthony), (Derek) Fisher and Phil (Jackson). That would be a fun experience for him and, obviously, New York and Madison Square Garden would go crazy over Kobe being there.”
Jackson’s comments generated an awful lot of attention, and Bryant addressed them during a conversation with Yahoo Sports NBA writer Marc J. Spears before the start of Lakers training camp:
“A lot of players want to go to different teams or contend to win championships,” Bryant told Yahoo Sports at the conclusion of the Lakers’ media day on Monday. “I’m a Laker, man. I’m a Laker for better or worse.” […]
“I’m a Laker, man. How many times do I have to say that?” Bryant said “Dude, I bleed purple and gold.”
He again sloughed off the idea on the eve of the Lakers’ regular-season opener, according to Greg Beacham of The Associated Press:
Bryant still dreams of a sixth ring, and he laughed at former coach Phil Jackson’s speculation he could pursue that jewelry elsewhere next year when his lavish Lakers contract runs out. Kobe laughed when asked about the 11-time champion coach’s thoughts.
“Everybody is going to have opinions, and I can’t comment on every single thing everybody [says], even if it’s a coach I’ve won so many championships with,” Bryant said. “It’s still his opinion. There will be many others.”
In restating his dedication to remaining a Laker, Bryant renewed his smirking dismissal of Jackson’s September suggestion, according to Tim Bontemps of the New York Post: “That’s Phil baiting you guys like he always does. He’s a master at it.”
Bryant will get the opportunity to share a laugh with The Zen Master over the uproar on Sunday, when the Lakers visit Manhattan for what could be his last visit to Madison Square Garden.
He’s long been one of the brightest-shining visitors to the World’s Most Famous Arena, scoring 30 or more points at MSG nine times during his illustrious career, including a 61-point explosion in February 2009 that stood as the arena record at the “new” Madison Square Garden until Carmelo Anthony poured in 62 against the Charlotte Bobcats in January 2014. Bryant also scored the first point of his NBA career at MSG, knocking down a free throw on Nov. 5, 1996, to open an account that would expand to include 32,563 points — and counting — making him the third-highest scorer in NBA history.
Despite all the great memories he’s amassed over the years at the Garden, though, Bryant doesn’t seem set to get too sentimental come Sunday, though he did acknowledge that this visit’s not quite like the others, according to Medina of the L.A. Daily News:
Still, Bryant admitted Sunday’s game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden has more meaning in what could mark his last appearance at the World’s Most Famous Arena. […]
“I always try to embrace the moment, and kind of feel the energy,” Bryant said. “I always try to make it a point to do that. But is it a little different this time around? Yeah.”
Yet, Bryant said he does not plan to add any extra plans to his road itineraries knowing this might mark his last year of extensive travel.
“I don’t break routine,” Bryant said. “It could be my last time, but I don’t try to do anything different than what I’ve been doing.”
And if Bryant does decide after his 20th NBA season that he’d like there to be a 21st, he intends to take that same approach this summer … no matter what his old coach might have to say about it.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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