While this season is pretty much a write-off for the Lakers, 2014 is the dream season for Kobe Bryant & Co., write Mike Bresnahan and Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Much of what they can do, however, depends on the type of sacrifice that Kobe is willing to make. Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan made financial sacrifices in recent years and it remains to be seen whether Bryant is willing to do the same in order to help the Lakers build the best team possible. The L.A. Times duo has a very out of the box (and illegal) idea for Bryant: sign for the veteran's minimum in 2014/15 and ink a $19.5MM deal with the Lakers (who hold his Bird Rights) in the following year. Here's more from around the Association..
- Wolves owner Glen Taylor continues to say that he is confident a new deal with restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic will be reached, tweets Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press.
- Terms of Andrew Goudelock's deal with Russia's BC UNICS Kazan were not disclosed, but the offer is worth “considerably more” than his NBA minimum of about $1MM, a source tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
- Jack Cooley is weighing offers from "a half dozen" teams after strong play in summer league, a source tells Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld (on Twitter). Cooley averaged 15 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 1.2 BPG for the Grizzlies' summer league squad.
- The Nets' luxury tax penalties for next season bring their total monetary commitment for 2013/14 to just over $189MM, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. The Nets added to their total after signing Alan Anderson.