Tucked into the bottom of this T.J. Simers column is quite the nugget: The Lakers are supposedly going to let Kobe Bryant become a free agent at the end of this season.
That may or may not mean much by the time this season ends. Bryant, 34, is attempting to return from a ruptured Achilles tendon, and the odds are against him.
But there is possibility that Bryant will not finish his career in purple and gold, and that 20 years from now you'll find a Kobe Bryant jersey in some other color at a thrift store and go, "Oh yeah . . ."
"He becomes a free agent at the end of the season, and Jim Buss says because of the pay structure of the NBA, the Lakers will allow Kobe to become a free agent," Simers writes. "He says he has talked to Kobe and believes they have an understanding, Bryant waiting as a free agent while the team spends to upgrade and then using what is left over to pay Kobe. 'We've probably talked,' says Kobe while being somewhat vague, 'but I'm putting off any thought of that.' "
Bryant insists, however, you'll never see him on the floor as a shell of himself.
"It's not going to happen," he said. "I've talked to a lot of actors who won't take a role if they don't think they can execute it."
The original article can be found at FOXSports.com: Lakers to let Kobe be free agent?.
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