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Kobe Bryant: Should He Retire If It Would Clearly Help The Lakers Rebuild?

By Brendan Gilbert

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By now we’ve all heard the news: Kobe Bryant will be out for the rest of the season due to a torn rotator cuff. After undergoing surgery, Bryant’s timetable for returning will be approximately 9 months. According to those close to him, Bryant will “definitely be coming back next season.”

But it is a legitimate question to ask whether that would be in the best interests of the Lakers.

When Bryant received his $48.5 million dollar extension, it was heavily criticized (save for Lakers mouthpiece John Ireland, who to this day still defends it) for a host of reasons. The two main points of criticism were:

1) Given the Achilles tear and mileage on Bryant’s body, it wasn’t clear how much he truly had left in the tank; and

2) it would hinder the Lakers free agency efforts, which would delay the rebuild.

Well, the first criticism seems particularly relevant, as Bryant has now had three season ending injuries in a row. Coming back next year for his 20th season, and at the ripe age of 37, would anyone be surprised if it became four in a row?

Further, even when he was healthy this season, Bryant spoke extensively about how his body wasn’t recovering after games like it used to. This resulted in him taking games off (sometimes multiple games in a row) due to, essentially, old age.

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With respect to the second criticism, an argument can be made that the Lakers weren’t all that hindered during last year’s free agency period. Indeed, other than LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, whose destinations were predetermined, their weren’t many game changing free agents worth pursuing.

So the Lakers wisely punted this past off-season so that they could pursue the much deeper 2015 free agent class.

Therein lies the problem. Bryant’s $25 million salary for next season will obviously hurt the Lakers during this upcoming free agency period, delaying the rebuild they desperately need. That $25 million could go a long way in terms of bringing in serious talent on top of the money the Lakers will already have available to spend.

Don’t believe me about the talent rich 2015 free agent class? Here are some of the potential unrestricted free agents: Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Goran Dragic, Rajon Rondo, DeAndre Jordan, Brook Lopez, Greg Monroe, Al Jefferson, Monta Ellis, Paul Millsap, Roy Hibbert, Luol Deng, Arron Afflalo, Jeff Green, Omer Asik, Wesley Matthews, Thaddeus Young, Eric Gordon, and Tyson Chandler.

Additionally, here are some of the restricted free agents: Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, Reggie Jackson, Jimmy Butler, Brandon Knight, and Tobias Harris.

So if the Lakers have Bryant, Jordan Clarkson, Nick Young, Ryan Kelly, Julius Randle, Robert Sacre and their two first round picks on the books this off-season (i.e., they make the no brainer move of declining Jordan Hill’s team option assuming he doesn’t get traded), then they will have approximately $41 million going towards the salary cap at the start of free agency.

It is predicted that the salary cap will increase to $66.5 million, meaning the Lakers will have $25.5 million to spend. Now imagine if that number was $50.5 million. If Bryant retired, that is the type of money the Lakers would have at their disposal.

Theoretically, that amount of money would allow the Lakers to pick up the following free agents (with estimated salaries): Dragic ($12 million), Afflalo ($8 million), Green ($12 million), and Monroe ($14 million).

Or how about: Rondo ($14 million), Matthews ($8 million), Millsap ($12 million) and Jordan ($14 million). Indeed, given the number of quality free agents, the possibilities would be endless.

And with the money leftover, the Lakers could bring back some of their own free agents, like Ed Davis or even Jeremy Lin.

With some combination of the free agents listed above, the players already under contract, and their two first round draft picks (assuming they are able to keep their top 5 protected pick), the Lakers would suddenly have a wealth of talent on their roster, something they clearly haven’t had over the past two seasons.

And because of the monster new NBA T.V. deal, the salary cap is expected to increase to upwards of $80 million (if not higher) in 2016. This increase will allow the Lakers to also dip into the equally talent rich 2016 free agency class, which includes Kevin Durant, Mike Conley and Al Horford.

Will Bryant retire, effectively giving the Lakers an additional $25 million to spend this offseason to accelerate the rebuild? Probably not.

But Bryant, whose net worth is approximately $260 million dollars, should seriously ask himself whether he wants the Lakers, the franchise he loves, to reclaim their spot at the top of the NBA. Because it is pretty clear that his retirement would go a long way towards that.

Next: Los Angeles Lakers: Who Should Start?

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