On this day to give thanks I am ever so thankful that Kobe Bryant accepted his massive extension to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The reason I am so thankful is because all the money that now is locked up in Bryant makes it almost impossible for the Lakers to add any other meaningful pieces to compete for championship while Kobe is there.

I wonder if you thought about that before he signed such a huge deal.

We here all the time that the only thing that matters is championships, but we clearly see from this situation that money is more important than titles.  I always assumed that at this point in Kobe’s career, that he would accept a five or ten million dollar a year deal so that the Lakers could surround him with big time stars that would help lead him to his sixth and maybe 7th and 8th championships.

That was what they attempted to do last year when they brought in Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic as well as Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns and we saw how well that worked.  Bryant wasn’t willing to let anyone else control the ball, the style of play or the headlines for the Lakers.

How I see it is the fact that Kobe is not going to change even at this advanced age.  He wants to be the big time star and the face of the organization.

He is at a time in his career where he should be passing the torch to another great player if he wants the Lakers to continue to succeed in the future.  It is now abundantly clear that Kobe is not willing to do that.

I can never fault anyone for taking the money but in Kobe’s situation I thought that legacy and rings would be much more important.

With this latest development he has clearly proven me wrong there.

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• Lakers sign Kobe to 2-year contract extension (espn.go.com)