Kobe Bryant has been the face of the Lakers franchise since the trade of Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat in 2004. Kobe won 3 championships with Shaq and 2 more after his departure. When Dwight Howard was brought to LA, the Lakers received a lot of media hype and drew comparisons to the Miami Heat. However, this season has been a complete disaster for the Lakers. Their improved play, especially after the all-star break, has the Lakers right in the playoff hunt (1 game up on Utah for 8 seed with 2 games to go, don't own tiebreak). Kobe Bryant has since torn his achilles, possibly in due to large part of his playing time. The 34 year old in his 17th season had been averaging over 45 minutes a month in April. Now the Lakers must try to complete this season and make the playoffs without him.
Sometimes, a good thing must come to an end. In this case, I think it is time for the Lakers to say good bye to Kobe Bryant. Let's go over the facts. The NBA has an amnesty clause that helps teams get salary relief and the Lakers have their amnesty sitting in their back pocket. Kobe Bryant will be entering the last year of his contract next season and is scheduled to make over $30 million. Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol are both free agents next season and the Lakers would be smart to re-sign at least one of the two. If the two play well together and put forth a solid effort in the playoffs together, it may be smart to build around the two big men. How would they build around them? It would be easy with the 30 million dollars in cap space that would open by dropping Kobe.
Sentimentally, amnestying Kobe Bryant could be the worst possible PR move in NBA history. The Colts dropped Peyton Manning in a similar spot and he led Denver to an AFC west championship the next season. However, the Colts are poised to be a threat in the future behind Andrew Luck. Worst case scenario for the Lakers would be Kobe coming back at the same level he was at and joining a new team. However, Kobe does not have many seasons left and next season could be his last one. It is time to move toward the future. The future is building around Dwight Howard. Fans might be outraged by the move, but winning would heal the heart of Lakers fans.
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