Kobe Bryant was not willing to budge on his salary when it came time to negotiate what would likely be his final deal. In the end, Bryant was awarded a two-year, $48.5 million contract.
At the time, there was debate about whether Bryant placed the Lakers in a tough spot because his deal, which is the richest in the NBA, would take up a large chunk of the salary cap. Bryant made sure everyone realized that was not his problem to deal with, it was for the Lakers front office to figure out.
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Bryant's opinion has not changed, and he acknowledged as much with news of the NBA's new TV deal, which is worth $24 billion over nine years and kicks in during the summer of 2016-17 and lasts until 2024-2025.
Players are "encouraged" per new CBA to take less to win or risk being called selfish+ungrateful while nbatv deal goes UP by a BILLION #biz
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) October 7, 2014