A few days ago in a radio interview, Mark Cuban suggested that the Lakers dump their super star guard Kobe Bryant using the amnesty clause. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake. Days later Cuban found himself sitting in his own arena, watching Kobe Bryant drop 38 points on his Mavs in what would end up being a 103-99 Lakers victory.
After the game, Bryant told interviewers “If he (Cuban) wants to amnesty Dirk, that’s something we’ll be willing to entertain.” Then, later in the night, Bryant tweeted “Amnesty THAT” prompting the response from Cuban:
“Nice to know there is at least one team and their players, outside of the Mavs, that listen to everything I say. But I do Have to give props to @kobebryant for a great tweet. #Welldone.”
Before the game, Cuban tried to explain his comments by saying that he was simply using Bryant as an example since the Lakers have both the highest payroll in the league and the highest-paid player in the NBA (Bryant).
According to SeatCrunch.com Lakers tickets start at around $34, but reach highs in the $12,000 range. Compare that to the average cost of Spurs tickets, and it becomes clear that the Lakers’ expensive lifestyle is funded comfortably by ticket sales. The only team in the league with a higher average ticket price is the New York Knicks, at $123.22. Keep in mind, these prices do not include the cost of parking, concessions or souvenirs.
Is it really worth it to pay $100+ to see Kobe put on this kind of a show? Or, more importantly, is his ability and apparent leadership worth his upcoming $30.45 million payday? That is a question for the Lakers organization to answer, but after this back-and-forth with Cuban one can assume that Bryant knows he’s not going anywhere.