By the time this sucker is published you just know this story is going to turn itself inside out again.
But I can't shake the feeling that we need some kind of re-cap here. I mean ... what happened yesterday?
Was this simply a bad day at the office, writ large by the presence of the media? (You never had a day when you wanted to be working for the business across the street?) Was it a tantrum?
Is Bryant still demanding a trade?
Apparently more requesting than demanding, at latest check, and not quite as much as before, perhaps? I have a feeling it's the Lakers' turn to talk next on this point. Presumably they'll talk to Bryant at some point, and arrive at some kind of settlement, or not.
In Bryant's latest radio interviews, Bryant says Phil Jackson has opened Bryant's eyes to the idea of staying. But even after talking to Jackson, Bryant has still been sending mixed signals. His website KB24.com has not been updated since yesterday's talk of departure. Late yesterday, even after the calming influence of Phil Jackson and Magic Johnson, and his conciliatory interviews, Bryant reiterated his wish to be traded. Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times reports:
Bryant also said Jackson told him to "just relax and just kick back, continue your training and enjoy your vacation. We'll address the issues. We have to do something in terms of bringing in talent and looking internally into the organization."
So Bryant went to see his young daughter in her ballet class. He tried to take his mind off of the events swirling around him but was continually hit with text messages and calls on his cellphone.
When he spoke to The Times at 5:27 p.m., he reiterated his position from earlier in the morning.
"Nothing's changed," Bryant said. "It's just a matter of I don't want to go no place else. I don't have much of a choice. When things like this go down, you just sit back. What can I do? It's like a broken record."
When asked if he still wanted to be traded, he answered quickly and firmly: "Yes."
Is Kobe Bryant serious?
The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Aldridge suspects that this was always a move to convince Jerry Buss to get rid of Mitch Kupchak:
Bryant never would say "fire that incompetent Mitch Kupchak," the Lakers' general manager, who has failed to build a championship-contending roster around Bryant in Los Angeles. That would be the kind of messy, front-office meddling that gave Magic Johnson a bad name during his early days in Los Angeles and got Michael Jordan tagged as impossible in Chicago.
But when someone of Bryant's wattage demands a trade, as he initially did yesterday - after saying all week that he wanted to wear Forum Blue and Gold the rest of his days - he doesn't have to. That is an unspoken gauntlet, thrown at the feet of owner Jerry Buss: Kupchak goes, or me.
(Bet the commish is delighted that Bryant, and not the conference championships, is the topic around NBA water coolers today.)
Bryant is too smart, too familiar with NBA finances, too fond of the franchise that gave him his start, too aware of his singular, devastating talent to know that there is no way on God's green earth that the Lakers could deal him. He brings too much loot to their coffers and is too vital to their franchise - and to the city - for them to get anything approaching true value in return.
I suspect Bryant is sincere in his upset, and his willingness to leave the team. But like anyone making threats, of course he always kind of hoped that instead of having to follow through, everyone would acquiesce and give him everything he wanted. Which may well include Mitch Kupchak's job. (Kupchak, meanwhile, is trying to get some work done at the pre-draft camp in Orlando.) After talking to Roland Lazenby, I'd be surprised if Bryant's wish list didn't also include Jim Buss -- owner Jerry's son who has a growing role in the front office -- taking a backseat in personnel decisions.
Does Peter Vecsey have a theory?
Why yes he does, thanks for asking. The New York Post columnist says the Lakers and Pacers are working on getting Jermaine O'Neal in purple and gold. Vecsey, who as usual makes this tough to parse by giving no indication who his sources are, theorizes such a trade may be for a package that includes Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum (hope O'Neal stays healthy).
Obviously, this very real swap talk is why Kobe's blithering abruptly ceased late yesterday afternoon. For days, he'd avoided returning phone calls from the Lakers. Yet, soon after demanding unequivocally to be traded while a guest on Stephen A. Smith's radio show, Kobe spoke to Jackson, who unquestionably clued him in to what's going on.
A couple hours later, Kobe was back on ESPN telling Dan Patrick he hoped his "quality help issue" could be worked out.
What's next?
Scan the national media, with its assorted sources, and essentially no one expects Bryant to be traded this summer.
In his final column for the L.A. Times, J.A. Adande makes a call as to how this will all shake out:
My prediction: He's here for another year, then there's another frustrated outburst when they don't improve, and the Lakers trade him rather than have him walk as a free agent. For now, the Lakers can't -- can't -- send him anywhere in the Western Conference, even though that's where most of the talent is. The one Eastern team with an abundance of good young players -- Chicago -- needs a low-post player more than a guard. And Bryant will come to realize that if you're going to be on a rebuilding team, it's much better to be in L.A. than some place like Milwaukee.
In the Washington Post, Michael Wilbon sounds certain Jerry West will return to run the Lakers:
Bryant isn't going anywhere. The Lakers aren't going to trade him and shouldn't. West, arguably the greatest basketball executive who ever lived other than Red Auerbach, will get over being steamed at Kobe, push retirement away for a couple of years or so and ultimately save the Lakers. Within the next 48 hours, Kobe will have talked again with Jackson, also with West, also with owner Jerry Buss, who preferred Kobe over Shaq three years ago, and will conclude it was all a misunderstanding. We'll hear inside a week or so that they're all on the same page, that Kobe was simply demonstrating the great passion he has for the team, its fans and winning championships, which is what he's about.
We'll hear Kobe say he was serious at the time, that his feelings were hurt, but that the club has promised him -- the great West has promised him -- that whatever happened the last three years is over and that the team will do whatever it has to do to return to championship form.
In the Chicago Tribune, Sam Smith writes that a trade to the Bulls is unlikely (and adds that the Knicks are competing with the Lakers for the services of Jermaine O'Neal):
It's only logical the Lakers aren't going to trade Bryant, at least not now. They, along with the Knicks, have the biggest daily gross in the league and charge the most for tickets. Nicholson doesn't pay that price to watch Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas.
And the Bulls would have to give up so much to acquire Bryant -- the consensus best talent in the NBA and the biggest draw -- they effectively would gut their team. Then the Bulls would be the Lakers and Bryant would want to leave, and he can opt out of his contract after the 2008-09 season.
Then you would have nothing.
