Miffed Kobe says Jazz
are out of the picture
Eventual free-agent Laker angry
at skit that made fun of Malone
 Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will become a free agent after the season. |
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When Kobe Bryant becomes a free agent this summer, he says the Utah Jazz can go ahead and look elsewhere.
After a comedy routine that made fun of former Jazz great Karl Malone and Bryant at a Lakers game in January, he isn't interested joining the Jazz.
"I was more concerned about Karl, not so much what they said about me," Bryant said Monday, when the Lakers lost to the Jazz 88-83. "How they're treating him -- that's his old team and they do that?"
The skit, which the Jazz intended as a joke but ended up apologizing for several times, had a caller imitating Malone's voice during the Jan. 24 game, which Malone did not attend.
The Malone impersonator made tongue-in-cheek complaints about his treatment in Los Angeles, where he said he was never passed the ball and the weather never changed.
"I guess it could be worse. I could be Ko...," he added, stopping short of saying "Kobe."
Bryant is facing a rape trial in Colorado and had attended a hearing in Colorado the day before.
"That's not really important to me," Bryant said about the Jazz poking fun at his legal case. "But if you're looking into an organization, you've got to take that into consideration. I mean, that's just not right."
The Jazz expect to have millions of dollars under the salary cap again this summer to pursue free agents.
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