The Los Angeles Lakers will not contact Kobe Bryant on their next hiring of a head coach.
"From time to time we ask his advice," Mitch Kupchak told ESPN's Andy Katz at the NBA draft combine THursday in Chicago. "He really won't weigh in on something like this. I'm not even sure that we'll talk to him prior to interviews. But from time to time, he is in our facility, I'll go downstairs and I'll talk to him about a bunch of different things."
That's really interesting. Kobe wasn't contacted by the Lakers for the last two hiring of coaches as well.
"We need some players," Kupchak said of the Lakers, who currently only have three players signed for next season. "We don't have many players under contract right now. Fortunately, we did sign a good player back in November: Kobe Bryant. So, we have him to rely on. He's been working out every day at our facility. He looks good. And we have a bunch of costless agents and some of the players on our roster last year, some of the younger players, played well. So we're looking forward to maybe bringing some of those guys back and looking at the costless-agent market and then once again, our lottery pick."
Kobe signed a two-year extension with the Lakers worth $48.5 million, but was able to play only six games last season before suffering a fracture in his left knee.
Despite the fact Bryant turns 36 in August and will be entering his 19th season in the league, Kupchak expressed full confidence in what shape Bryant will be in by training camp.
