RadioOnFire.com - Kobe Bryant is one of the all time greatest players in NBA history and in most cases that would mean everyone would have loved a chance to play on his team, except that’s just never been the case when it comes to Kobe. In fact, marquee free agents over the years have practically gone out of their way to avoid even talking with the Lakers, let alone signing with them. Sure it could have to do with Kobe’s personality or his win or die attitude, which rubs some players the wrong way but according to numerous agents for NBA players, it’s something more personal that has caused some of the better players in the league to avoid Los Angeles despite the numerous off the court reasons to go there.
When Kobe was dealing with his rape allegations back in 2003, he snitched on Shaq, explaining how he paid more than $1 million dollars to women over his career to keep quiet. It was a low blow and had nothing to do with his own situation other than the fact he tried to show other guys aren’t angels themselves. All it really did was show how much of a snake Kobe was capable of being at the time and although that case is long over with and he & Shaq are on good terms, it still has lingered around the league itself.
Sam Amick of USA Today wrote “Years later, after the case against him was dropped and a civil suit was settled out of court with no admission of guilt from Bryant, agents of prominent NBA players would still cite the O’Neal subplot as the sort of sin that inspired their clients to steer clear of Laker Land”
Most of the time in sports, winning trumps all and makes off the court things easier to deal with but this is one of those things that has stuck. Over all the years and all the chances to sign big name free agents, only Dwight Howard chose to take the leap and that was a disaster almost from the start. The only other elite level player to join Kobe was Pau Gasol but that was via trade.
Kobe is already a hard guy to deal with and I’m sure the whole snitching thing with Shaq isn’t the only reason free agents haven’t wanted to go there but clearly some players value being able to trust the guys they go to war with and maybe not everyone trusted Kobe.
All of this is being rehashed thanks to the current Lakers drama with Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell so he can thank that nonsense for coming up again in the final week of his career.
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