Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant didn't agree with the comments about him made by United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann. Bryant, responding to what Klinsmann said in December, called the comments "comical" and missing perspective.
Klinsmann seemingly took a swipe at Bryant when he used him as an example of how American sports rewards athletes with massive contracts for their past accomplishments, something Bryant disagreed with and called "comical."
"I thought it was pretty funny," Bryant told ESPN from Brazil, where he's cheering on the United States. "I thought it was pretty comical, actually. I see his perspective. But the one perspective that he's missing from an ownership point of view is that you want to be part of an ownership group that is rewarding its players for what they've done, while balancing the team going forward.
"If you're another player in the future and you're looking at the Lakers organization, you want to be a part of an organization that takes care of its players while at the same time, planning for the future. ...
"Jurgen is a coach, a manager. He's not a (general manager) or owner of the franchise. When you look at it from that perspective, it changes a little bit. But you probably could have used another player as an example."
Klinsmann made his comments about Bryant, who signed a two-year extension worth $48.5 million last season with the Lakers, during an interview in December with the New York Times Magazine.
"This always happens in America," Klinsmann said, via ESPN. "Kobe Bryant, for example -- why does he get a two-year contract extension for $50 million? Because of what he is going to do in the next two years for the Lakers? Of course not. Of course not. He gets it because of what he has done before. It makes no sense. Why do you pay for what has already happened?"
Klinsmann recently came under question for his decision to cut longtime USA soccer star Landon Donovan from the 2014 World Cup roster, a decision that Klinsmann defended.