What extent has he gone to "hurt the Lakers organization?"
From all accounts, there was absolutely no negotiating on his current contract. The Lakers just straight up came out and led with that offer? That's definitely not his fault and quite frankly he shouldn't be the one expected to broach the subject of him taking a pay-cut. It's the job of management to have the best interests of the organization at heart and if they lead with a 30 million a year offer, that's on them and not him.
Second, Byron Scott being terrible is not on him. Scott seems to not only be enabling Kobe to play like this, he WANTS him to play like this. You hear this every single time he does a post-game presser. So if the Lakers are ok with offering Kobe 30 million a year and Byron Scott wants Kobe to continue to play like this "because he's earned it" then I don't blame Kobe for that.
to clarify, i was not saying kobe is the entire reason the lakers will likely be irrelevant for a very long time. yes, the organization itself has been a mess for years from top to bottom. they were already in the twilight of their contention window, then when jerry unfortunately passed away everything went to shit.
at the same time, if kobe were truly invested in the franchise, he wouldn't have taken the $30M. doesn't matter if the lakers offered it straight out. do you think the spurs would've hesitated to offer duncan a lot of money if he showed interest? nope. and do you think he would've accepted a lot of money if it ended their reign of relevancy and forced the team to break up? nope. because he has proven time and time again that he wants to win. it was obvious to everyone that kobe's deal would virtually eliminate any hopes of one last run of contention in kobe's career and he's already made insane amounts of money. if winning were at all important to him, he would've taken a paycut. not saying he should sign for the vet min, but $30M a year? really? yes, the lakers committed organizational suicide by offering it in the first place; but he absolutely did not have a gun to his head forcing his signature.
the same applies to this year with scott. yes, scott is a massive fucking idiot and total enabler. but again, it is obvious to anyone remotely paying attention that kobe hoisting retarded shots all games both 1) makes them lose, and 2) kills any chemistry and hinders the development of the young players. and yet again, scott is committing organizational suicide by offering it in the first place; but kobe doesn't have a gun to his head forcing him to shoot. what purpose does kobe playing like this serve? it doesn't win games. it doesn't help teammates. all it does is place kobe at the center of the team which is ultimately all he cares about. himself. if he gave a damn about any of his teammates or the lakers actually winning again, he'd do everything he could to make sure everyone else was benefiting from his involvement. instead, nobody is. instead of duncan, this time we'll use kg in minnesota as a prime example of a selfless vet compared to the selfish vet.
edit: even if you want to argue the significance of $ involved even for someone who's made as much as kobe, that's fine. he'd get a pass if going for the money was his only major decision. but his play this year has been in no way justifiable
whatsoever. doesn't matter what the "coach" says. his selfishness is a conscious decision that falls squarely on his shoulders and nobody elses. had he wanted to focus on the young guys, byron would readily get in line. but he doesn't, so byron doesn't care either. byron is the coach in title only; kobe is the one running that team.
Most Overrated All Time Great of All time.
That's right I said it.
nah that's iverson.
lotta people are dumb enough to buy into the kobe/mj comparison nonsense, but it still doesn't come close to how many think ai was a mega elite player neck and neck with most of the other GOAT guards.
