November 1, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard
Kobe Bryant(24) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors forward
Harrison Barnes(40) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Kobe Bryant says that he will never leave the Los Angeles Lakers, he’s ‘extremely loyal’
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The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a 0-4 start to the season. Their immediate future appears bleak, and there’s nothing really to hang their extended future hat on either.
Kobe Bryant is still in the mix, and on the surface appears to be somewhat effective, but it’s now evident that he’s no longer enough to carry a team. He’s no longer a “No. 1” in this league anymore.
And such conclusions prompt other questions.
Questions that can often be labeled as the elephant in the room: what is Kobe Bryant still doing on the Lakers?
While it’s not a simple question that can be replied with one straight answer, we do know however what is not going to happen regarding Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
He’s not going to get moved, and nor does he want to.
Let’s stop the trade rumors now. You know, in case you were thinking about starting any.
"[via Kobe Bryant: I don’t even think about leaving the Lakers — Yahoo!]“I hear the chatter of Kobe should ask out and he should go and play for a contender in this latter stage of his career,” Bryant told Yahoo Sports. “But that’s not what I do. I’m extremely loyal to the Lakers.“I believe in fighting through the tough times as well as enjoying the good times. It’s my responsibility to get us to be the best that we can be. It’s important that we approach that on a day-to-day basis.”…“I’ve enjoyed a great amount of success here. You can’t just enjoy the successful times and then run away from the bad ones. No, I don’t even think about [departing]. I’m a Laker.”…“Lakers fans know it’s a process. Things can turn pretty quickly. We’ve seen it there before. If there is anything we’re relying on, we’re relying on our history, what we’ve been able to accomplish and how quickly we are able to turn things around.”"
The Lakers and Kobe Bryant were tailored made for each other. They were destined to succeed together, and now they deserve to fail together.
Still, I’d be interested to see what Kobe would look like this season on a contending team.
Say…the Miami Heat, or the Memphis Grizzlies. Heck, I wouldn’t mind seeing him on the New York Knicks alongside Carmelo Anthony and Phil Jackson.
For the time being, though, it appears like that’s probably never going to happen.
Even though it probably should.
#FreeKobe
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