Tom Brady has just earned that much more admiration from New England Patriots fans, respect from the sports community and, perhaps, ire from Kobe Bryant.
ESPN reported that Brady agreed Monday to restructure his contract with the Patriots. The 37-year-old quarterback allowed the Patriots to remove the "skill" guarantee in his contract, essentially freeing up $24 million in cash flow - although ESPN added in another report that the deal does not affect the franchise's salary cap.
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Still, New England now is in a better position to sign free-agents to be after the season, including cornerback Darelle Revis and running back Shane Vereen.
The deal also gives Brady $1 million more per season over the next three seasons. He is scheduled to make $8 million in 2015, $9 million in 2015 and $10 million in 2017.
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That's $2 million more that Bryant, the aging Los Angeles Lakers superstar, is scheduled to make next season.
In November of 2013, Bryant signed a two-year contract extension worth $48.5 million. He is making $23.5 million this season and $25 million next season. The contract has brought criticism on Bryant for handcuffing the Lakers' salary cap.
Bryant has been just as quick to criticize his critics.
"Did I take a discount? Yeah. Did I take as big a discount as some fans would want me to? No," Bryant told the Los Angeles Times in November of this year. "Was it a big enough discount to help us be a contender? Yeah."
Bryant has said he would like to win one more championship to match the six NBA rings that Michael Jordan has. But Bryant refuses to go about it the way fellow five-time champion Tim Duncan has - by taking a substantial pay cut to allow the team to sign more talented players around him.
The Spurs rode Duncan's $10 million contract to the NBA championship in 2013-14.
But Bryant said he is not a believer in taking a financial hit for the sake of the team.
"It's a big coup for the owners to put players in situations where public perception puts pressure on them to take less money, because if you don't, then you get criticized for it," Bryant said. "It's absolutely brilliant. But I'm not going for it. And I know the new head of the players' association ain't going for it either."
Duncan and the Spurs are off to a less-than-spectacular start at 19-13 in 2014-15 but still are expected to contend for the NBA crown this season. Brady's Patriots are 12-4 and are the top seed in the AFC with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs leading to the Super Bowl.
Bryant and the Lakers have the second worst record in the NBA's Western Conference.
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