Kobe Bryant now talks with the eloquence of an elder statesman in the NBA. And he's still wrong.
CBSSports.com defended Bryant's recent comments to Sports Illustrated that "NBA superstars are underpaid compared to the revenue they generate for their teams and the league."
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Bryant signed a two-year, $48.5 million contract to finish his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, a contract that critics pounced on Bryant for being selfish and self-oriented, rather than team-oriented.
But Bryant's contract, he says, is about setting an example in contract negotiations. He believes that the NBA's salary cap allows owners to receive a huge break on how much they pay their players - especially the superstars. The players shouldn't feel pressure to take pay cuts for the good of the team.
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Bryant says old and new Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James is worth $75 million per year in a free market. Yahoo! Sports agrees that superstars are paid less than fair market value. According to Yahoo! Sports, the late Jerry Buss privately said that Bryant was worth as much as $70 million to the Lakers.
KB believes players like him & LeBron are underpaid (put LBJ free market at ~ $75 mil). Believes important to set an example in contracts...
— Chris Ballard (@SI_ChrisBallard) August 22, 2014
The problem is that Bryant is trying to use the same argument for two different situations that are present in the NBA.
If he wants to argue that the salary cap is unfair, then his current contract is a bold statement toward that issue. If Steve Ballmer can pay $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, then the product on the court must be profitable enough to allow the players to earn more than the current cap max allows.
In that sense, Bryant is right.
But in the parameters of the rules, Bryant couldn't be more wrong. Michael Jordan did not make more than $3 million per year until his last two seasons, and the Bulls surrounded him with a supporting cast that won six NBA championships in eight years.
Jordan translated his on-court success into lucrative endorsement deals and other non-basketball revenue that gave him the bulk of his net worth that now exceeds $1 billion. That's why he is the owner of the Charlotte Hornets.
Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs finally shed their "boring" reputation by thrashing James' Miami heat in the 2014 NBA Finals. Duncan gave up some $10 million in salary to allow the Spurs to sign a supporting cast that returned the franchise to NBA supremacy for the first time in seven years.
Duncan cemented his legacy as one of the great team players in NBA history - which he could translate into endorsement deals.
If Bryant were able to ride off into the sunset with two more championship rings to give him seven - one more than Jordan - his endorsement deals will be off the charts. But because of his contract, the Lakers cannot field a championship contender - and Bryant's teammates won't learn to make similar sacrifices to help the Lakers bring in more talent.
Bryant will miss out on some of that money away from basketball.
Do you think Kobe Bryant is justified in getting as much money as he can? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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