Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson said in a recent radio interview in Sirius XM that Kobe Bryant should consider retiring next year if the Los Angeles Lakers does not get another NBA superstar to play with him next season, reports Fox Sports.
Despite giving Kobe Bryant a $25 million per year contract until next NBA season, the Lakers have a lot of room for its salary cap space since last summer. The team has actually gone after last summer’s biggest names in the free agency market including LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony but it got nothing.
While rumors have been circulating before the start of the current NBA season that no NBA superstar would like to play for the Lakers and be second fiddle to Kobe Bryant, the real reason why no big name or marquee NBA player would play with the Black Mamba is because he is already on the twilight of his career.
Playing to win championships
It would be fool-hardy for the likes of Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James to play alongside Kobe Bryant with the Lakers only to be left alone in the team one or two years down the road. That is not a promising proposition for any NBA superstar worth his every penny.
Like LeBron James, they think for the long-term, they want to win not just one championship but a string of championships. When the Miami Heat took in Chris Bosh and LeBron James to join Dywane Wade some four years ago, Pat Riley was not just looking at a single run at the championship but more, which the team achieved.
So when LeBron James moved back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was not just looking to lead the team to one championship but a good run for championships in the next few years. The same holds true with Carmelo Anthony.
Way past his prime
It can be recalled that when Michael Jordan joined the Washington Wizards from 2000 to 2002, there was hardly any NBA superstar then who was willing to join him in the team.
Well, lately Kobe Bryant was telling the media that he once attempted to join MJ with the Wizards but the truth is no current NBA superstar would play alongside an aging superstar who is already past his prime.
It is now very obvious with the case of Kobe Bryant because this would be the third season in his 18-year career that he would not be able again to complete the entire season because of various injuries. Aside from the fact that he is now more prone to injuries, his shooting and shot selection are simply terrible and his blame-spree habit is also a turn off.
While Magic Johnson has been blaming part-owner Jim Buss for the Lakers’ failure to land an NBA superstar during last summer despite the team’s huge salary cap space, it is not hard to see why NBA superstars shun away from a team that has been on a rebuilding phase for the last three season including the current and very forgettable one.