Kobe Bryant appears on the cover of the upcoming issue of GQ magazine. The issue will appear on newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on February 17 and nationwide on February 24. Photo courtesy of GQ
If only the NBA did not nix the deal for Chris Paul, a phrase that nearly every Lakers fan and even team officials have uttered aloud within the past three years.
Count Kobe Bryant as one of those people, recently telling GQ Magazine that he believed the 2011 NBA lockout directly related to the Lakers because of their vast NBA championships (16) and lucrative cable deal that led plenty within the league believing the purple and gold operated on an uneven playing field.
“That lockout was made to restrict the Lakers,” Bryant said. It was. I don’t care what any other owner says. It was designed to restrict the Lakers and our marketability.”
How so?
“There is only one team like the Lakers,” Bryant said. “Everything that was done with that lockout was to restrict the Lakers’ ability to get players and to create a sense of parity, for the San Antonios of the world and the Sacramentos of the world.
Bryant then pointed to the Paul deal that would have sent Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets and Lamar Odom to the former New Orleans Hornets. But former NBA commissioner David Stern nixed deal, famously citing “basketball reasons,” which included concerns that neither New Orleans nor Houston received enough youthful talent to make the trade fair. Stern exercised that authority since the New Orleans franchise then lacked a definitive ownership group.
“Even with those restrictions, the Lakers pulled off a trade [for Chris Paul] that immediately set us up for a championship, a run of championships later, and which saved money,” Bryant said. “Now, the NBA vetoed that trade. But the Lakers pulled that [stuff] off, and no one would have thought it was even possible. The trade got vetoed, because they’d just staged the whole lockout to restrict the Lakers.
Bryant then expressed optimism in the Lakers’ front office, including general manager Mitch Kupchak, president Jeanie Buss and vice president Jim Buss, could pull off such another move this offseason. Bryant described them as “hell-bent on having a championship caliber team” for the 2015-16 season in what will likely mark the last campaign of a 20-year NBA career.
That seems like a tall task indeed. The Lakers are on pace to finish this season with a missed playoff appearance and the worst season in franchise history. Bryant also faces questions on how he will return after nursing a season-ending injury to his right shoulder, the third consecutive year his season cut short because of a major ailment.
But that will not stop Bryant from relentlessly pushing forward, both in his recovery and unyielding belief the Lakers will return to familiar championship territory with him on the court.
RELATED:
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant believes he should have seven NBA titles
Lakers’ Byron Scott, Jeremy Lin view his struggles differently
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant describes Michael Jordan’s technique as “flawless”
Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com