It was a relatively quiet trade deadline for the Los Angeles Lakers, but the one deal they did make appears to have unsettled Kobe Bryant.
A day after the Lakers shipped Steve Blake to the Golden State Warriors for a pair of reserve guards in Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks — saving them $4 million in salary and luxury-tax implications in the process — Bryant took to social media and weighed in with a tweet that, according to a source with knowledge of his thinking, was meant to show support and love to Blake.
In the nearly four seasons that Bryant and Blake were teammates after the point guard came to L.A. as a free agent in the summer of 2010, Bryant often lauded Blake for his tough-nosed approach to the game, even bestowing him with the nickname “Vino Bianco,” a remix of his own self-appointed monikers of “Vino” and the “Black Mamba.”
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak downplayed the salary-cap incentive to do the deal Thursday, saying “with this organization, that kind of relief is not really a big number.” Rather, he said it gave L.A. the chance to evaluate young talent that could be a part of the team moving forward.
from espn.com
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