Kobe Bryant rightly states he and LeBron James are underpaid

[Nowitness]

lebrons peak isn't top 10 when you look at who his comp is.

his stats against elite teams, 50+ win teams, aren't even that great.

kobe was a cancer his whole career outside of his earlier years and his peak isn't that great either.

shaq, duncan, dirk, kg were all better players than those two....

[ImKobe]

lebrons peak isn't top 10 when you look at who his comp is.

his stats against elite teams, 50+ win teams, aren't even that great.

kobe was a cancer his whole career outside of his earlier years and his peak isn't that great either.

shaq, duncan, dirk, kg were all better players than those two....

so desperate for negs...

[Real Men Wear Green]

The problem is there is a limited budget allocated for the players. It's the cap. Is it fair? Maybe not, but I've had plenty of jobs where I work a lot harder than people I'm working for, and make less money.

Most people would literally murder someone to be in Kobe's financial position. If Kobe feels the life of an owner is that good compared to the poor work horse players why not retire and buy majority stake in a team? Unlike most people who complain about not making enough money that's a realistic option for him.

It's crazy how unaware some of these guys are of what it's like in the real world.

1: Bryant is most likely foreshadowing the players' position for the next CBA. Similar to James deciding he is no longer going to accept less than the max superstars have to be tired of being pressured to accept less than market value so that the team can build a winner. They're going to want a bigger cap. This isn't about who's right and who's wrong, this is about grabbing the largest share of the pie on both sides.

2: Just because you have settled for what you make doesn't mean that the next man should. This is a capitalist system in which people are paid what they can get someone to pay them. So if the players or anyone else see a way to get paid more why shouldn't they? You, I or the next man is paid has no bearing on what they should try and make for themselves.

3: Bryant has a net worth of 220 million as of 2013. Maybe it's up to 250 million now. Still nowhere near the billionaire status of the normal NBA franchise owner. Highly doubt he could buy a majority stake in an NBA franchise, even a "cheap" one like the Bucks was something like 500 million. Not that this even matters. "If he doesn't like it, he can just buy an NBA team!" is an argument that doesn't make sense and isn't particularly relevant anyway. He's a player, not an owner.

[SpanishACB]

3: Bryant has a net worth of 220 million as of 2013. Maybe it's up to 250 million now. Still nowhere near the billionaire status of the normal NBA franchise owner. Highly doubt he could buy a majority stake in an NBA franchise, even a "cheap" one like the Bucks was something like 500 million. Not that this even matters. "If he doesn't like it, he can just buy an NBA team!" is an argument that doesn't make sense and isn't particularly relevant anyway. He's a player, not an owner.

In retrospect, players of other sports with similar net worths, made 10-15 millions a year (Messi, Ronaldo) from their club's salary in 2013 (messi has a 180 net worth and Ronaldo has 250)

Being much younger and their marketing deals blowing Kobe's out of proportions, it's only funny when people claim Kobe generates that much. In comparison to? He's the most overpaid athlete as it stands. And for what he actually does in the court, in comparison to other comparable athletes in team sports, even his own, the NBA, it's not like he's heads and shoulders above everyone in the world, and I'm not only talking about this last couple of season, I mean even if we assume he'd be at his peak right now.

Kobe is taking the money, and he doesn't give a ****, it's amusing how people in the internet try to justify it when he's probably laughing, or he would if he read what those people had to say

[tontoz]

Kobe is half right. Lebron is underpaid. But Kobe is waaaaay overpaid.

[ImKobe]

Kobe is half right. Lebron is underpaid. But Kobe is waaaaay overpaid.

overpaid? Pretty sure the Lakers made 100 million in profit last season(best in the league), and that's with Kobe only playing 6 games and Staples Center not being sold out every game due to the poor product...please.

Lakers are in rebuilding phase and don't have that many solid players. The best player is a post-achilles injury Kobe that played 6 games last season. Even with the cap space we had this off-season, who did we get? Lin in a trade....The so-called "cap space" was wasted on re-signing Hill and Young. Isn't Hill making like 9 mil this season?

Lakers offered Kobe that money before he even came back from injury and it's their own damn fault. stop blaming the player for taking what the team offered him, insuring they have enough cap space to put a decent product on the floor. No big name FA was going to come here anyways so the money Kobe's getting should be irrelevant at this point. You think the extra 10 mil would have made us contenders, that Melo or Lebron would have hopped here? Of course not. That 10 mil might have landed us a solid role player at best.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Kobe is half right. Lebron is underpaid. But Kobe is waaaaay overpaid.

Bryant is overpaid by the standards of a market that is artificially limited by the cap and max. Eliminate those two things and he may just make more. Look at the deals that get signed by the elite MLB players, guys getting 200+ million contracts. James and Bryant could get that if things were different.

[iamgine]

Underpaid and overpaid is relative.

Kobe might be overpaid from his impact on the court right now and relative to his peers but he might be underpaid from what his name brings the Lakers now and historically.

So yeah its just a matter of perspective.

[MP.Trey]

Taking a paycut /= overpaid

Kobe was way overpaid, took a paycut, and now is less overpaid.

[tontoz]

Bryant is overpaid by the standards of a market that is artificially limited by the cap and max. Eliminate those two things and he may just make more. Look at the deals that get signed by the elite MLB players, guys getting 200+ million contracts. James and Bryant could get that if things were different.

The fact that Kobe is overpaid has nothing to do with the cap. It has to do with the fact that he is 36 years old and recovering from a major injury, something old guys typically struggle with.

If Kobe was 30 and healthy then you could say he is underpaid. Lebron and Kobe are not even remotely comparable in regards to their value.

[ImKobe]

The fact that Kobe is overpaid has nothing to do with the cap. It has to do with the fact that he is 36 years old and recovering from a major injury, something old guys typically struggle with.

If Kobe was 30 and healthy then you could say he is underpaid. Lebron and Kobe are not even remotely comparable in regards to their value.

Kobe getting paid 24 mil on the Lakers is not the same as it is in the open market.... Kobe obviously gets more because he was a big part of 5 rings and has been a Laker his whole life, plus the fact that the team is currently not that great and we don't have any big star coming our way. They threw the money at him because they could and it doesn't affect them. Jordan Hill just got 9 mil a year deal, Nick Young 5 mil...Lin's making 8...That's what we spent our cap on. Other option would have been to let everyone go and sign someone like Stephenson, Parsons, Thomas or Hayward to a near max deal... Kobe's not gonna accept 12 mil a year and be medicore when he could accept 24 mil and be around the same. If the Lakers needed Kobe to take a huge cut in order to contend for championships, he would have done that.

Kobe is worth the money because the Lakers are raking in over a 100 mil a year in profits. 24 mil is nothing to them.

[Mr Feeny]

Kobe getting paid 24 mil on the Lakers is not the same as it is in the open market.... Kobe obviously gets more because he was a big part of 5 rings and has been a Laker his whole life, plus the fact that the team is currently not that great and we don't have any big star coming our way. They threw the money at him because they could and it doesn't affect them. Jordan Hill just got 9 mil a year deal, Nick Young 5 mil...Lin's making 8...That's what we spent our cap on. Other option would have been to let everyone go and sign someone like Stephenson, Parsons, Thomas or Hayward to a near max deal... Kobe's not gonna accept 12 mil a year and be medicore when he could accept 24 mil and be around the same. If the Lakers needed Kobe to take a huge cut in order to contend for championships, he would have done that.

Kobe is worth the money because the Lakers are raking in over a 100 mil a year in profits. 24 mil is nothing to them.

They Lakers DO need Kobe to take a paycut in order to contend. Unfortunately, his priority is making as much money as possible rather than about winning.

[ImKobe]

They Lakers DO need Kobe to take a paycut in order to contend. Unfortunately, his priority is making as much money as possible rather than about winning.

What do the Lakers get that puts them from missing the Playoffs to contending for a championship with an extra 10 mil? Kobe is not in his prime to carry these guys every single night without injuring himself... We have Nash taking up 9 mil and we might see him play 5-10 games this year. Lakers threw 14 million at Jordan Hill and Nick Young, one is a great role player that gets injured often, other is a chucker that can't rebound, pass, or defend on a consistent basis.

At best, the extra 10 mil adds us a few wins by signing someone like Isaiah Thomas. But it doesn't put us anywhere near the top of the conference. And what we're seeing right now is Lakers not committing to anyone on a long-term basis, no one is signed past the 2015-16 season, except for Nick Young (player option in 2017) and Randle(team option in 2016), who's on the rookie deal. They are obviously not being desperate and trying to "contend" because Mitch knows that signing an all-star caliber player to a long term, 15+ mil/yr team kills any hopes for contention in the near future. A 36-year-old Kobe is by far the best player on the roster. I guess I should take that as a compliment, that Lebron fans think a 36-yr old Kobe is capable of leading a team to a title.

[tontoz]

Kobe getting paid 24 mil on the Lakers is not the same as it is in the open market.... Kobe obviously gets more because he was a big part of 5 rings and has been a Laker his whole life, plus the fact that the team is currently not that great and we don't have any big star coming our way. .

LA is at least 2nd in terms of most attractive markets for free agents. They have a huge market, great location and a storied history. It isn't like we are talking about the Hawks here.

Kobe is not an asset in terms of attracting free agents. He is a liability.

Getting paid for past accomplishments makes no sense. He already got paid for those years. It isnt like he was playing for free.

A smart GM signs a player based on what he believes the player will accomplish during the life of the contract. Signing based on past accomplishments is what led to the Gilbert Arenas deal.

[ralph_i_el]

Took a pay cut

Highest paid cripple in the NBA

Inb4 20/3/3 on 40% with 3 TOpg