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Kobe Bryant And Why The NBA Pays For The Past

Kobe Bryant got a huge extension last season but he’s in a rapid decline and he keeps getting hurt, so why did he get such a large extension?

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Whenever a player and team management begin to negotiate for a new contract or an extension in the NBA, the process can become rocky and the two parties can grow apart.

Sometimes a young player will feel entitled to a large payday, even though he has done very little to deserve it. At other times, a team will give young players large contracts based on potential alone (this usually happens during restricted free agency). But there are cases where a team will give an aging, declining player a large contract for what they’ve done in the past.

Case in point: Kobe Bryant

Last year, Bryant signed a two-year, $48.5 million extension that would keep him on the Lakers until 2016. A month after the extension, Kobe hurt his knee and missed rest of the season. Now, Kobe has a torn rotator cuff and had surgery to repair. He’ll be out approximately 9 months.

The extension Kobe was given was met with much more confusion than praise. Why would you give a player in his mid 30’s, who’s coming back from a serious injury, so much money?

From a business perspective, I understand why Kobe took the money. The league makes so much money off of these players, the salary they make isn’t fair, even if it looks like they’re severely overpaid (i.e. Joe Johnson). And now that there’s a new TV deal set to kick in two years from now, players should take advantage of it and get every dollar they can, since the league will be making MORE money off of them than ever.

And for some, the idea that you should take less money even though you’re being used to make money is ludicrous.

Here’s the thing, though: you should NEVER give a huge contract to a player for what they did in the past. But teams feel entitled to do this for two reasons:

  1. Teams want to show the public that they are loyal to the player
  2. Teams secretly hope that the player can play like he did in the past

And in Kobe Bryant’s case, he generates revenue from ticket sales, merchandise and a whole lot of other things.

Jurgen Klinsmann echoed the same sentiments in a New York Times Magazine piece back in June 2014:

"“Kobe Bryant, for example — why does he get a two-year contract extension for $50 million? Because of what he is going to do in the next two years for the Lakers? Of course not. Of course not. He gets it because of what he has done before. It makes no sense. Why do you pay for what has already happened?”"

That was Klinsmann’s quote on his desicion to cut Landon Donovan. But he namedrops Kobe Bryant, and that quote is true to the point.

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Kobe has earned a total of $279,738,062 in his career. And with his contract set to expire after the 2015-16 season ends, Kobe will surpass Kevin Garnett as the highest earning player in NBA history. Most of that money he’s deserved. But the money he doesn’t deserve is probably the reason he’ll be sitting at home come playoff time, while his peers from his era such as Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki will be competing for championships.

Fitting, right?

Next: Brad Stevens should be receiving Coach of the Year consideration

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