The Arrogant, Entitltled World Champion Los Angeles Lakers

[Chuck Nevitt]

Sounds as though it's a fully torn Achilles for Kobe.

I've been saying that watching him play this year was like drinking a great vintage bottle of wine...

[Bklyn]

We may have witnessed Kobe's last game in the NBA...unless he decides to play past this current contract.

[T Dot O Dot]

Lakers still have their amnesty, I'd love to see the shytstorm if Jim Buss decides to fully abort the Phil era

amnesty kobe, c'mon, do it, please...........

[Bklyn]

They're saying now that Kobe may be able to come back by the first month of next season. I don't see how that works. Chauncey was out a year. Jason Peters was out a year. It seems that's the timetable for pros.

I would be for amnestying Kobe (because, seriously, that's why they kept it...for Kobe or Artest) if he was gonna be out for a year, talk to him about it all beforehand and sign him to a 2 year deal after the 2013/14 season with a price still chunky, but not $30M.

Jim is so distrusted by the fanbase now, though, that any move like that...without the intentions explicitly stated (which would have someone like Mark Cuban picking up Kobe out of spite) the fans will storm the gates of Staples.

Knowing Kobe, he will find a way to come back by December. The question is, what Kobe will that be?

[Jungle Rat]

Send him to Germany. He'll be fine by training camp.

[Jungle Rat]

Just don't ask him to pee in a cup.

[T Dot O Dot]

They're saying now that Kobe may be able to come back by the first month of next season. I don't see how that works. Chauncey was out a year. Jason Peters was out a year. It seems that's the timetable for pros.

I would be for amnestying Kobe (because, seriously, that's why they kept it...for Kobe or Artest) if he was gonna be out for a year, talk to him about it all beforehand and sign him to a 2 year deal after the 2013/14 season with a price still chunky, but not $30M.

Jim is so distrusted by the fanbase now, though, that any move like that...without the intentions explicitly stated (which would have someone like Mark Cuban picking up Kobe out of spite) the fans will storm the gates of Staples.

Knowing Kobe, he will find a way to come back by December. The question is, what Kobe will that be?

Amnestied players still get their pay, it just doesnt count against the salary cap, I'm almost 99% sure that if he is amnestied he can not sign back with the Lakers

[Bklyn]

If they amnesty him this Summer but he announces he will miss 2013/2014 and no one picks him up...then LA can sign him in 2014. That's what I was trying to say.

If Kobe is ready by December, though, no way he just Derrick Roses it and sits out a year while he's ready to play.

[Bklyn]

ESPN is of the same mindset...

When Kobe Bryant went down in the fourth quarter of Friday night's game against the Golden State Warriors, the immediate concern for the Lakers organization was winning the game and maintaining its tenuous grip on the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. However, when news broke that Bryant's injury was, in fact, a probable torn Achilles tendon, the confidence built by the Lakers' closing the win without him was quickly negated. "It's just a tough hit, tough blow for everyone and, for the ones who love him and have a great respect for him, even more," teammate Pau Gasol said with tears in his eyes.

The reality is that, even with a healthy Bryant, the Lakers had been doomed to be first-round fodder for, most likely, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, as Bryant begins the arduous road to recovery, the franchise seems to be at its lowest point in a season full of low points. But if the Lakers shift their focus from the immediate future to the long term, they'll find that this injury might actually be the best thing to happen.

If it is indeed a torn Achilles tendon that Bryant suffered Friday, the Lakers have to figure out how to make the best of a bad situation.

And it can start with using the amnesty provision on Kobe Bryant.

First, a word about Achilles injuries …

The ruptured Achilles tendon is one of the most devastating injuries in basketball. If Bryant suffered a full tear, the rehab and recovery might last a year.

It likely will be four months before he can start jogging and six months before he can commence on-court drills. Many players return but never recapture their pre-injury levels of production, or return too early and further injure themselves. In a recent example, Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers tore his Achilles tendon in February 2012, attempted to come back in late November 2012 and played three games before sitting again until February 2013.

So it is fair to assume that even with an aggressive rehab, we can expect Bryant to be out until about the All-Star break, and even then he might be a shell of his former self. To fully recuperate at his age (almost 35), he probably should take an entire year off, effectively missing the 2013-14 season.

The Lakers' salary situation

If Dwight Howard re-signs for the maximum allowable salary, which would start at about $20.5 million in 2013-14, the Lakers can expect their payroll to top $100 million (assuming Metta World Peace does not exercise his early termination option and the Lakers renounce all other impending free agents, such as Earl Clark and Devin Ebanks).

Under the new punitive measures of the CBA, taxpaying teams will be subject to incremental tax rates; in other words, the further above the luxury tax threshold you are, the more you pay for additional salary. Assuming the luxury tax threshold is $72 million in 2013-14 (which is actually a favorable assumption for the Lakers), L.A. can expect to pay about $85 million in luxury taxes.

To clarify: That's $100 million plus in salary, and another $85 million plus to the NBA for the right to pay its players that much -- almost $200 million cash out for the 2013-14 season alone.

On top of that hefty bill, the Lakers would face other penalties: They would continue to be prohibited from acquiring players via sign-and-trade and would not be able to use the full midlevel exception (worth $5.2 million in 2013-14) or the biannual exception (worth $2.0 million in 2013-14). Additionally, they could open themselves up for possible repeater tax penalties down the line in 2015 or 2016 (yes, an even more punitive tax structure awaits them).

After the Lakers' bitterly disappointing performance so far in 2012-13, and now with Bryant injured, it's easy to see that the costs of moving forward with this roster as presently constructed far outweigh the benefits. The best way to avoid the looming financial wreck would be to miraculously shed roughly $30 million from the official payroll.

The amnesty provision

ESPN Insider colleague Larry Coon has written the definitive document on the NBA's complicated collective bargaining agreement -- the NBA Salary Cap FAQ.

Here is a key passage for the Lakers:

"Amnesty is a one-time opportunity for teams to release one player via the waiver process and remove him from their team salary and luxury tax computations. For a player to be eligible for the Amnesty provision he must be on his team's roster continuously from July 1, 2011 to the date he is amnestied, without any new contract, extension, renegotiation or other amendment to his contract in the meantime."

What this means for the Kobe and the Lakers

So the Lakers could cut Kobe and erase his contract from the books (although they would still have to pay him the $30.4 million remaining on his contract after this season).

Not only would the Lakers save tens of millions of dollars in tax payments but they also would once again have the ability to improve their roster via the full midlevel exception, the biannual exception and sign-and-trade deals. They wouldn't have Bryant, but he likely will spend most of the season rehabbing anyway.

There is a catch, but even that works out in the Lakers' favor, if they want to take advantage of it. When a team "amnesties" a player, it cannot reacquire that player until the expiration date of the contract. For example, the Houston Rockets let Luis Scola go in 2012 with three years remaining on his deal; as such, they are prohibited from reacquiring Scola until 2015 (when his original deal would have expired).

In Bryant's case, his contract would expire just about the time he's ready to return to full health. Therefore, the Lakers would be able to bring him back just at the time he would be worth bringing back, presumably. (We're assuming that he can make it all the way back, but it's not a given, based on the history of NBA Achilles tendon injuries.) And if he can't get healthy, the Lakers wouldn't have to sign him.

Solving the PR problem

Releasing such an iconic player could become a public relations nightmare for the Lakers, among fans and others around the league. But that problem is solved if Bryant cooperates.

By publicly agreeing to depart via the amnesty provision, Bryant could save the Lakers' reputation, their cash and their flexibility to build for the future. In fact, the ideal scenario for the Lakers would be for Bryant to announce that amnesty was his idea -- his way of sparing the Lakers' ownership and front office the scorn of a fan base that otherwise would see this as a slap in the face, to Bryant and to their support for him and the team.

Why would Kobe do this? Well, one incentive could be a tacit understanding with the Lakers that he would be able to rejoin the team in the summer of 2014 as an unrestricted free agent. That's just when the Lakers are expected to have a massive amount of cap room to sign Bryant (at a smaller number) and other free agents.

If the Lakers and Bryant were to have such an understanding, neither party would be able to acknowledge it publicly because the NBA has harsh rules against under-the-table deals with prospective free agents. But the real-world truth of the NBA is that such agreements have been known to happen in the league from time to time -- some would say they happen quite frequently, in fact.

In this scenario, everybody wins: The Lakers get in better financial shape; Bryant gets paid without having to join another franchise; and he comes back to a stronger roster than the one he left behind.

Bryant has vowed to retire a Laker. But it doesn't sound as if he's ready to retire yet, even after Friday night's setback. And we know he desperately wants to win at least one more ring -- his next one will tie him with Michael Jordan. If he and the Lakers can find a way to make amnesty palatable for all concerned, he might just get what he wants.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Amnestying Kobe will depend on two factors:

1 - Kobe's projected return date. With the advances in technology (they're better at doing the surgery and better at rehabbing), I could see Kobe suiting up on January 1, 2014. No way the Lakers risk amnestying Kobe only to see him in Clippers Red & White or something next year.

2 - Gasol's trade value. Before the Kobe injury, next year's cap release valve was going to be Pau. Amnestying Metta would save $15 million. Amnestying Pau would save $50 million next year alone. The hope was to move Pau for younger, cheaper athletes plus capspace, but if not that, amnesty.

[hedge]

Would amnestying Pau be considered amnesty international?

[T Dot O Dot]

no way Kobe comes back January 1st

[Jungle Rat]

They are not going to amnesty Kobe. Just stop.

[hedge]

No

[Jungle Rat]

I'm warning you!

[Bklyn]

They would amnesty Kobe if Kobe allowed them to. In no other way will it happen.

[hedge]

Looks like the Warriors are California's real team. Stephen Curry put on a show in the 3rd quarter...

[Bklyn]

I like Steph a lot. I wish he was in NY. GS still won't win the series, but they will give SA all they can handle.

[hedge]

Boy they choked that one away last night...

When Curry went on his tear in the 3rd, the ball was barely ruffling the net when he was bombing them in. Looked like it was going straight down a chimney. Surprisingly enough, considering his size, he drives the lane impressively as well. Not really taking it hard to the hoop so much, but he's got a nice floater that is just as effective. Not sure what his assist numbers are, but he looks like he's going to be a fixture in the league for a long time.

I was at the Georgetown/Davidson tourny game in 2008 in Raleigh when Curry lit up the Hoyas in a furious second half comeback and defeation. Davidson had a decent crowd there due to the proximity to their campus, and Carolina had a huge contingent there for our game against Arkansas. Of course, the Carolina crowd was all in for Davidson and the place was going crazy when they made their run. I felt kinda bad for Georgetown. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. Fuck Georgetown. Even the Carolina pep band was playing "Sweet Caroline" (Davidson's theme song) for the Davidson crowd...

[Bklyn]

Curry has a very steady handle and is getting better and better seeing the floor. Jackson as a coach is a big help too. He has the jumper I wish I had. It's gorgeous.