Kobe Bryant has now placed a two-year ultimatum for the Los Angeles Lakers front-office to surround him with best talents available and put him in position in winning another championship. If it doesn't happen within that span of time, then the former NBA MVP thinks there's no option left for him but retirement.
The 36-year old Bryant is coming off a sensational performance in Tuesday's 111-103 win over the Denver Nuggets, as he dropped 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his second triple-double this season and 21st in his career.
The Lakers star has been averaging 24.1 points, 5.2 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game despite lengthy rehabilitations from two major injuries (torn Achilles and MCL tear). However, although Bryant is not showing signs of slowing down, he seemed very pessimistic of the possibility of playing beyond his contract during a brief chat with Orange Country NBA writer Bill Oram.
Bryant, who is playing in the first-year of the two-year, $48.5 million contract extension he signed in 2013, admitted he's not interested of prolonging his career beyond his current deal, especially with the Lakers current state.
"If you asked me if I'm going to play beyond that, right now the answer is no," said Bryant, who is shooting a career-low 37.5 percent from the field on 22 attempts per game.
Lakers Murky Situation
While several analysts are placing the blame on Bryant's ugly field-goal shooting percentage, it's really not the main reason for the Lakers' miserable record this season. The truth is the Lakers don't have much weaponry in its arsenal after missing on several elite free-agents last summer. Pau Gasol, who helped Bryant win his last two of five championship rings, finally decided to take a new route and join the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference.
All is left for Bryant are bunch of journeyman and two expiring contracts (Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin), which would create roughly $35 million of cap space next summer, when the likes of Marc Gasol, Goran Dragic, Kawhi Leonard and many upstart players hit the market.
In reality, the Lakers don't have much time to build a championship contending team. It would need a series of blockbuster moves in the offseason and perhaps a good pick in June's Draft (They get the first-round pick if they fall in the bottom 5) to surround Bryant with the right teammates, who hopefully would convince him stay just a little longer for one final hurrah.
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