As Kobe Bryant continues his recovery from his Achilles tendon injury, his future with the franchise after this season remains up in the air at this point.
The Lakers haven't opened contract negotiations with Bryant according to source with knowledge of the situation, saying that the Lakers will approach the situation with a wait-and-see mindstate.
Bryant, 35, has done extraordinary work throughout his career elevating the franchise to five additional championships and two other NBA Finals appearances in his 17 seasons.
However, despite Bryant's achievements the franchise still has their enormous cap room to consider during the offseason. As of now only Steve Nash, Robert Sacre and Nick Young are the only players in the books for the 2014-15 season, meaning the franchise has an abundance of spending cash to be thrown around for potential free agents with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, Luol Deng, Dirk Nowitzki and Danny Granger as some of the top free agents set to hit the market.
If Bryant were to ask for the maximum 5% raise over his current salary the Lakers won't be able to go after the big fish set to hit the market. However, if he took a pay cut and asked for $10 million to $12 million for 2014-15 it would give the Lakers the space to possibly go for two top-level free agents next season.
With Bryant in his last leg as far as his playing career, it is expected that the Lakers will do all that is possible to acquire a player for the future post-Bryant.
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