Kobe Bryant contract primer

The NBA's unofficial salary-cap guru Larry Coon penned a great primer on the issues surrounding Kobe Bryant's contract situation.

In a nutshell, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference financially if Bryant opts out and re-signs this summer or next. He'll still be able to make about $135 million over the next five years.

But if he were to wait until the contract runs out in two years (and not opt out either summer), he'd be risking the NBA's collective bargaining agreement changing pretty dramatically. Or, if he were to sign an extension for three years, past the final two seasons remaining on his contract (instead of opting out), Coon calculates that Bryant would lose around $7 million in contract value over the next five seasons.