We all know that Kobe Bryant is on a quest for a sixth ring, he also is very adamant that he will never leave the Lakers, and now he says he doesn’t see himself playing beyond his current contract. Put all those together and you see the problem.
via USA Today:
“Nah, not really,” he said with a grin and a shake of the head when asked if he can envision playing beyond his current contract. “But I’m so loyal to this organization, there’s not a chance (of him leaving)…I’ve been really fortunate to win a lot of games here, a lot of championships here. You can’t (expletive) with (that).”
“It’s not going to happen,” Bryant told USA TODAY Sports when asked if the temptation to change teams might still grow from here. “It’s not going to happen. You go through the good times, you’ve got to go through the bad times.”
“I have a no-trade clause. (Lakers governor) Jeanie (Buss) and (Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations) Jimmie (Buss) aren’t sending me anywhere.”
That means Kobe will continue his quest and only has these two years to get it done. It clearly won’t happen this year with that Lakers squad so they’re gonna have to do something special in the offseason. If nothing works out by the time Kobe’s contract is up it appears he’ll still hang up his jersey. Giving up on a quest for six rings is surely better than leaving the league with none. At the end of the day nobody will question Kobe’s talent just because he didn’t get as many rings as Jordan.
