After another blowout loss, this time at the hand of the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers are now 1-9. At this point, there is nothing that can be fixed with this Lakers team. Sure, its early in the season, but there’s no way that they can turn this around. Steve Nash and Julius Randle are both out for the season and Nick Young still has not returned. Jeremy Lin has played decent and Carlos Boozer has his moments. But overall, this just isn’t a good team. And with the Lakers being in the Western Conference, you can go ahead and kiss those playoff chances goodbye.
And then, there’s Kobe Bryant. The franchise player of the team at 36 years old. Honestly, he’s the only reason the Lakers have been relevant these past few years. No matter how old he is, people still want to see Kobe Bryant play. Right now, he’s the second highest scorer in the league at 27.3 points per game. Those numbers are impressive, but the amount of shots attempted and field goal percentage isn’t. His field goal percentage as of now is 36%, which isn’t good. But while basically being the only player on this Lakers team that can get their own shot off, you can’t really put all of the blame on him. Against the Warriors, Bryant did have 44 points. But, it took him 34 shots to do so. It’s hard to watch Kobe keep that championship mentality when no one else on his team shows that effort. At some point, Kobe is going to have to say something to this team.
Bryant has always preached about staying loyal to the purple and gold. When asked about possibly requesting a trade, he blows up on the reporters. But let’s think about this before a second. Kobe Bryant is a 36-year-old who can still contribute to a team at a high rate. Why haven’t the Lakers legitimately thought about trading Bryant? If they trade Kobe, they can receive assets for the future and also get rid of his contract. This is something that the Lakers seriously need to consider. You may be losing your franchise player for the past 18 years, but it’s time to start focusing on the future.
If I were Kobe, I would walk into the front office and demand a trade. I understand the loyalty part and completely respect, but there has to come a point in time where Bryant simply can’t take this anymore. The team is not going to make the playoffs, they’ll probably be in the lottery again. I can’t say where Kobe could possibly be traded, but it’d be smart for the Lakers organization to start making some phone calls. Bryant has put in too much work to come back from injury and have to go through this. He deserves to be playing for a contender. I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, it is time for Kobe Bryant to get out of Los Angeles.
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