No way in hell, right?

That is what Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio suggested that Kobe Bryant do to keep the Lakers from being so deep into the luxury tax.  For those of you not familiar, the luxury tax is a dollar-per-dollar tax for the given amount that the team is over the cap.  With the Lakers well over the cap, they will end up spending upwards of $100 Million to field their team now with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash aboard.

Cowherd feels that Bryant has made enough money.  Sure, he would figure so.  After all, what Cowherd makes is a drop in the bucket compared to Kobe’s salary.  But that doesn’t mean it is OK for a person, in any profession, to be paid a fraction of what they are worth.

It’s disrespectful.

There is also no precedence for such occurring that I know of in any of the major sports.  Maybe there has been, but I sure don’t remember a player working for the literal minimum required for a team to keep the said player in the league, as Cowherd vehemently suggested Kobe should.

Sometimes, I wonder if journalists and sportscasters alike sometimes say things just to stir controversy.  That certainly seems to be the case here, because Cowherd is suggesting something he would likely never do himself.

It’s easy to criticize when you’re not the one making millions, nearly billions, of dollars, as Kobe has throughout his career between both contracts and endorsements.

There is no way he should have to accept such a ludicrous contract, and no way he will.  He’d much sooner head to Europe after an insult like that.