It's Time For Kobe Bryant to Leave Los Angeles

After 19 seasons, 17 All-Star nods, five championships, and one MVP, it's official: Kobe Bryant needs to leave the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Next year, Bryant will enter Year 20 in the purple and gold, capping off one of the most prolific runs with a single team that any player has ever had in the history of the NBA. He's the king of Los Angeles, beloved by fans even as he ages into the dreaded oblivion of Life After Basketball. Saying goodbye to the league while wearing a Lakers uniform, or even attempting to re-up with the team, is a tantalizing option for Kobe. He's confirmed it himself. "If I’m not playing in a Laker uniform, I’m not playing," said Kobe at the beginning of his new Showtime documentary Kobe Bryant's MUSE. More than anything, it's just a comfortable option. He knows the city, and they know him. After so many seasons of playing in full aggro mode, who could blame him for taking the easy way out? Kobe deserves a breather. He's earned his rocking chair. 

But sticking with the lowly Lakers isn't the same as accepting defeat in Kobe's mind, despite the current state of the maligned and unproductive roster. Kobe is obsessive about his pursuit of a sixth ring. While speaking with Chuck Klosterman during a recent interview with GQ, Kobe declared that the Lakers would do their best to contend for the Larry O'Brien next season: "I know what Mitch [Kupchak] tells me. I know what Jim and Jeanie [Buss] tell me. I know that they are hell-bent about having a championship-caliber team next season, as am I.” 

But there's a wrench in this situation. Kobe's next championship-caliber season depends on removing a major obstacle standing in his way: the Los Angeles Lakers.

With one season left on his contract, and perhaps two full seasons left in his tank, it's time for Kobe to say goodbye to the Sunset Strip. Simply, there are too many problems with the Lakers right now, most of which stem from their decision to roll out the red carpet for Kobe so late into his career. The mutual loyalty has been touching, but it's no longer doing anyone any favors.

The current team treats him like a cranky ghost, constantly haunting them but rarely seen.​

First, Kobe’s coach, Byron Scott, is aggressively mediocre. On multiple occasions throughout the season, Scott has professed his disdain for the three-point shot apparently unaware of the fact that, with only a couple notable exceptions, the teams that are draining threes are the teams that are winning. Not in Scott's world: "I don’t believe it wins championships," he said in October. "(It) gets you to the playoffs." Keep in mind, the winners of the NBA's last five championships all featured offenses that ranked higher in three-point attempts than the Lakers do now. 

Sure, a team like the Grizzlies—which ranks 28th in the league in attempted threes—can afford to play with an offense that places a greater focus on attacking the rim; they have Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The Lakers, on the other hand, have Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill. By ignoring the three-point shot, Scott isn't just ignoring league-wide trends, he's ignoring the realities of his roster. Mostly, he isn't being terribly creative, instead opting to stew in an offense that's sluggish and grossly inefficient​. It's math: Three is more than two! Shots from 19-21 feet out are almost just as difficult from those that are 22-feet out, but less valuable on the score board! Shot charts over the past 10 games signal that Los Angeles is slowly coming to embrace the space beyond the arc, but they still rank in the bottom fifth of the league in attempted threes. And it all has to do with the fact that Scott is the kind of guy who sees a higher number and automatically assumes some ridiculous, disproportionate degree of difficulty. He's the kind of guy who plays Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? but cashes out at $1,000. He's boring and not terribly great at measuring risk. 

It also has something to do with his hatred for analytics. Maybe that's fine for Charles Barkley, who spends most of his time hemming and hawing behind a desk in Atlanta, but not for a man coaching a multi-billion dollar franchise. Scott's brutally stubborn. Why his job isn't in as much question as, say, Brian Shaw's in Denver is head-scratching. In the early aughts, Scott twice led the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals; since then, however, the game has changed while Scott himself hasn't. If anything, we shouldn't be remembering his back-to-back Eastern Conference championships. We should be remembering that he coached the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 26-game losing streak during the 2010-11 season, the longest-ever in NBA history. The Cleveland gig was his last job. Aside from misguided nostalgia for his days in the purple and gold, what could've possibly possessed Mitch Kupchak and the rest of Lakers management to view Scott as a viable candidate for leading such an inexperienced roster? 

Michael Jordan wore a Wizards uniform for two seasons. Even legends can't be immune to the realities of business.

Which leads into the next point: The Los Angeles front office doesn’t appear to have any idea what it’s doing right now. For a long time, the franchise has traded on its prestigious pedigree and location to seduce big-name free agents. It’s well possible (and likely) that this will continue to be their calling card in the future. Maybe it will help them land Rajon Rondo, maybe it won't. As of now, they've shown little competency in developing talent or attracting free agents who can make a discernible impact on their win-loss record. Their transaction sheet from the past couple seasons is loaded with names like Andrew Goudelock, Dwight Roberts, Ryan Kelly, Darius Morris, and Darius Johnson-Odom. One of those names is completely made-up, and I bet you'd need to use Google to tell me which one.

It's no wonder that Kobe treats his no-name teammates with so much disdain.

Look at the way Kobe is watching that video; Jordan Hill, Jeremy Lin, Nick Young, Carlos Boozer's cameo: They mean nothing to him. They aren't Pau. They aren't Metta. They aren't even Lamar Odom. Every time Kobe watches a game, he probably asks himself something like, "Wait, Jordan who?" when he sees Jordan Clarkson hustling down the court. Keep in mind, Kobe has barely practiced with most of these guys, let alone played with them. To him, they're just some "motherfuckers [who] ain't doing shit." 

Heartwarming stuff, right? It's like something out of a Disney movie.​

Of course, this is what you'll be stuck with when you take up $48.5 million in cap space for two seasons. Even worse, as a result of Kobe's special treatment the Lakers don't appear to belong to him any longer. The current team treats him like a cranky ghost, constantly haunting them but rarely seen.​ The franchise will always have a place reserved in its heart for No. 24, sure. But let us not forget Jeremy Lin’s mush-mouthed press conference early in the season, when he spoke about the team's struggles as if there were a laser sight trained on his forehead, ready to blow his dome off if he so much as mentioned Kobe.

At the end of the day, the Lakers don't want to build around Kobe or the person-shaped meat sacks that they've attempted to pass off as a competitive roster. Kobe is a gargantuan financial investment for the team and is nearly twice as old as the players who the Lakers will draft next season. Keeping him is not in the team's best interest. Mitch Kupchak agrees.

Luckily, staying isn't in Kobe's best interest, either. Look, we all love it when a player stays with his franchise for the entirety of his career. It helps perpetuate the facade of loyalty that pro sports teams have a vested interest in maintaining. But, keep in mind, Paul Pierce plays in Washington now, Karl Malone once played for the Lakers, and Michael Jordan wore a Wizards uniform for two seasons. Even legends can't be immune to the realities of business. Kobe still occupies the throne in Los Angeles, but how much longer can his reign last? Forcing himself into the center of such a broken machine can't be fun for much longer. He'll get a victory tour with the team next season, but will the fans really want to see Bryant suit up again in 2016-17, when he's just another cap hit sucking up dollars and shots? Will they feel so nostalgic for the Mamba when they see their team's result in the win-loss column? Most important, will Kobe?