Kobe Bryant appears to be enjoying his final NBA season at a previously unseen level, trading in his underbite for a smile and happily watching the Los Angeles Lakers lose.
There’s an easy explanation for that, though. According to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, Bryant — in a peculiar metaphor — has accepted the team’s ability level.
Kobe on all the losing: “You can train a cat all you want to bark. The damn cat’s not going to bark. It makes no sense to be yelling at it.”
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) December 24, 2015
The metaphor itself perfectly describes the current status of the Lakers, but we’ll get to that. Perhaps more interestingly, this is how we know Kobe is ready to retire. He’s not worried about winning.
However, it’s not like he should be. Los Angeles sports a Western Conference-worst 5-24 record heading into the final four games of the calendar year, and the franchise doesn’t have much hope for improvement.
Although head coach Byron Scott should still be working on Los Angeles’ future, he still must highlight Bryant’s mediocre yet crowd-pleasing featured act.
Instead of demanding a crop of young players like D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson elevate their games to an unreachable level so the team can compete with the league’s best opponents, Bryant is enjoying the final days of his illustrious NBA career.
You can train those guys to win, but the Lakers aren’t going to beat the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs let alone make the playoffs.
Kobe knows he’s the main attraction of a failing performance, and the Hall of Fame-bound legend has decided to soak in his final moments on the court.
He’s realized the expectations are low, and that’s OK. It’s simply not what we’re used to seeing or hearing from Bryant — but really, for 2015, it’s a good thing.