Kobe to Retire This Summer

As a Lakers fan, I was happy to see that Kobe Bryant was in such great shape at the beginning of the season. At the same time I was disappointed to hear that because theLakers are filled with 20 year old players and therefore should not be beating every player in conditioning drills. Kobe is one of the highest players in the league as was producing like it for the first month of this NBA season. Obviously people come to see Kobe Bryant play basketball and he is worth a lot of money.

The Lakers are paying Kobe Bryant so much money that it reduced the number of free agents that were interested in playing for the Lakers this off season. And Kobe was earning his money until Lakers coach Byron Scott held Kobe out of the Christmas Day game. The Lakers played better as a team without Kobe, but it has led to Scott sitting him every other game since. That should mean that he will play better with more energy in the games that he does play, but that wasn't the case in their most recent game he played against the Clippers.

Kobe is due to come back for one more season with the Lakers, but if he is a true team player and a life Laker, he should either retire after the season or reconstruct his contract for much less money since due to his limited role with the team. There are many free agents that will be available this next off season. What happens with Kobe this off season will show whether or not Kobe is a true life Laker or he is just there to collect a check.