Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant voiced his displeasure on Thursday with the trade that sent Steve Blake to the Golden State Warriors. Although the Lakers will have money to spend this summer, general manager Mitch Kupchak said they make take a conservative approach to spending in free agency, ESPN reports.
The Lakers traded Blake on Wednesday to Golden State in exchange for guards Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks, a move that didn't sit well with Bryant.
Not cool with @SteveBlake5 being gone AT ALL One of my closest teammates and psycho competitor GS picked up gem #smartmove
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) February 20, 2014
Although Los Angeles saved $4 million in salary and tax penalties by dealing Blake, the team still remains above the luxury tax threshold. Kupchak insisted, however, the opportunity to evaluate talent - not to save money - motivated the decision to make the trade.
"It really got to the point where we needed to free up some time in the backcourt to look at Jordan [Farmar] and give Kendall [Marshall] the time that he's earned and let's review and evaluate where we are with those two players," Kupchak said, via ESPN. "And the other part of it is, we got back two young players that are developing."
Kupchak also discussed the team's plans for free agency. While the Lakers could have as much as $28 million to spend in July, Kupchak admitted they may opt for a slow rebuild and not use all of their cap space in one summer.
"...It depends on who we can get in this summer. I don't think that we'll use our cap money to patch together a team for next year," said Kupchak. "We're looking to bring something to Los Angeles. It may take more than one year to build, I don't know. But because we have a lot of money this summer, doesn't mean we'll spend it all.
"We'll spend it wisely and if we can't, then we'll do the best we can this summer and then we'll look maybe to the next summer."
