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Kobe Bryant on why he never gave Lakers a hometown discount: "It's a big coup for the owners"
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- Kobe Bryant on why he never gave Lakers a hometown discount: "It's a big coup for the owners"
Kobe Bryant played 20 seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers , helping the franchise win five NBA championships while establishing himself as one of the best players in the game. During those two decades, he did everything he could to put the Lakers in the best position to contend for an NBA title every year. Well, almost everything.
While Bryant gave it his all on the basketball court during games, he never took a hometown discount by signing a bargain contract that would give the organization more financial flexibility. Why didn't he do it?
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"It's the popular thing to do," Bryant said . "The player takes less, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think it's a big coup for the owners to put players in situations where public perception puts pressure on them to take less money. Because if you don't, then you get criticized for it…It's absolutely brilliant, but I'm not going for it."
Nowitzki 's "ultimate sacrifice" to help Dallas
This became a topic after Dirk Nowitzki agreed to a three-year, $25 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks in July 2014, taking money far below his market value. Nowitzki said he did so because he wanted to help his team add more pieces and, hopefully, compete for an NBA title during his final years in the league.
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"I wanted to be on a good team," he explained. "I wanted to compete my last couple of years at the highest level. Ever since after the championship, we had a couple of rough years. We missed the playoffs one year, were the eighth seed twice I think, so that was really the main decision."
With Nowitzki's discount, the Mavericks were able to sign Chandler Parsons to a three-year $46 million offer sheet, while allowing them to reacquire Tyson Chandler via trade. Despite their upgrades, they never made it past the first round of the playoffs during the duration of that hometown deal. However, he still received plenty of praise for his unselfish act.
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Kobe did not want to shortchange his worth
Meanwhile, the previous summer, Bryant signed a two-year, $48.5 million extension with the Lakers, despite coming off an Achilles injury. Although that number was not his max salary, he was still the league's highest-paid player.
Critics frowned at the deal, saying Bryant was selfish. But he had a good rebuttal.
"I think as players, you've kind of got to hold your ground a little bit and not be afraid of what the public perception is," he said in another ESPN interview. "Instead, you try to educate the public a little bit and understand it's not about complaining about how much you're making, because that's ridiculous. We are overpaid, but so are the owners. And you have to fight for what your market value is."
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The Lakers won a combined 37 games in Bryant's final two seasons in the league, including a franchise-worst 17-65 during his farewell year. But only a few criticized Bryant for making so much money while playing for one of the league's worst teams.
Meanwhile, despite leading the Lakers to a first-round series win over the Houston Rockets without Luka Doncic , critics want LeBron James to take a hometown discount this summer if he wants to stay in Los Angeles .
If Bryant were alive, he probably would have been the first to tell James not to shortchange himself.
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Related: Charles Barkley once revealed the only thing separating Kobe Bryant from LeBron James
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
