Kobe “grateful” that he doesn’t have to worry about free agency

While LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, and Chris Bosh are all trying to figure out where they’re going to be playing next year, Kobe Bryant is focusing on the task at hand: trying to get his fifth career NBA Championship ring. Kobe doesn’t have any decisions to make after the series, having signed a three-year extension with the Lakers this April. Kobe has what the rest of the league’s superstars are looking for: a great supporting cast, one of the best NBA coaches ever, one of the biggest markets in the world, and an adoring fanbase.

When Kobe spoke to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, he acknowledged that he’s “grateful” to have so much stability around him at this point in his career. He also talked about how determined he is to take advantage of the opportunity he has to win championship after championship:

While those young stars are scrambling for relevancy, Bryant has a chance to keep stacking title upon title. He’s on four, pushing for five.

“That’s exactly how I feel,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. “There are times when I sit back, particularly in the summer, and think about that. But when you’re in the heat of the moment, you’re thinking, “You’ve got a great opportunity here: ‘Don’t [bleep] this [bleep] up.’ ”

Only a few years ago, Kobe didn’t have the luxury of being able to focus all of his energy on playing the game, something he acknowledges:

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“As the years went on, that list of what I had to worry about here has gotten shorter and shorter,” Bryant said. “In the first year [after Shaq], it was like, ‘Damn, I’ve got to score 40 points to keep us competitive. And I’ve got to make sure these guys stay in the gym late.’ It was a laundry list of stuff. The following year, it becomes, ‘What’s management doing?’
“Then every year, the list got shorter and shorter to where it is now. I don’t worry about what management is doing. I know they want to win.”

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Kobe’s had some definite rough patches in his career. It wasn’t that long ago that Kobe’s team missed the playoffs, he had to try and win games playing alongside the likes of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown, he was openly criticizing the (non)-trades management was making, and Kobe himself ended up demanding a trade. All of that is behind Kobe now, and he’s in the kind of situation that James, Wade and all the other free agents are looking for. Nobody is more aware of that than Kobe is, and he’s going to do everything he can to make sure he makes the most of this opportunity.