Former LA Lakers point guard Magic Johnson believes that Kobe Bryant should retire if the Los Angeles Lakers fails to find a new superstar on the free agent market in the summer of 2015.
Johnson shared on SiriusXM his thoughts about Lakers owner Jim Buss and Bryant's giant contract.
Johnson said in an ESPN report, "If he doesn't have a big summer with a free agent, it looks like they'll have a good draft pick. Put that together with a good free agent, you can be right back into the mix. If this summer, that doesn't happen where they can sign a great player, it's over for us."
"And I really believe this: [Kobe] should ... say to Jim and them, 'Look, if you don't sign one of these free agents [this offseason], man, I'm just not going to play next year'."
Yahoo! Sports reported that Bryant is currently off the court due to his third straight injury, which will again end his season early. He is the highest paid player in the NBA, based on salary alone, set to earn $25 million in the 2015-16 season.
Johnson was asked whether he would advise Bryant to retire if the Lakers fail to land a star free agent in the coming summer.
Johnson replied in the same ESPN report, "You almost gotta say that because if you come back with the same level of talent, you're just going to have the same results. You know, so, look, Kobe, put pressure on Jim to say, 'Look, man, you've got to bring me some talent, some help, so that this can be a great season for the Lakers and a great season for me, being my last season, and then I can retire'."
NBC Sports reported that Magic also criticized Jim Buss for trying to prove that he has the capacity to improve the Lakers without consulting an expert. He thought that Buss is distracting general manager Mitch Kupchak from turning the Lakers into a championship-winning team.
Although it is true that Los Angeles will find it difficult to find a star who will want to play alongside Bryant, the whole idea of paying him a huge contract despite his injury-plagued past three seasons is to bid him farewell, based on the same Yahoo! Sports report. The whole point is to showcase Kobe in his final playing days. The real rebuilding will begin in 2016, when the superstar finally retires.