Lakers Rumors: ESPN Fires Back Hard at Kobe Bryant, Calls Black Mamba Turn-Off To Free-Agents

Days after Kobe Bryant called ESPN panelists who put him as the 40^th best player in NBA in the players' rankings for the 2014-15 NBA season a 'bunch of idiots', the Worldwide Leader in Sports fired back at the Los Angeles Lakers franchise player, as panelists of TrueHoop TV blamed him for the team's struggle these past two seasons.

In his latest video blog on TrueHoop TV, ESPN sports writer Henry Abbott talked about Bryant and his presence that apparently made things difficult for general manager Mitch Kupchack and the Lakers front-office to attract elite free-agents in the last two seasons.

"The NBA's premier franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers, went shopping this last summer for their next superstar with maximum money to offer, and struck out," Abbot said of the Lakers' failed attempt to bring a star in purple-and-gold jersey. "No LeBron, no Carmelo, and they couldn't even get Chris Bosh.

"Sources close to situation say the reason has a lot to do with Kobe Bryant. History shows it has been very hard to be his co-star. Think about it. Shaquille O'Neal, Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howard, one great player after another has struggled alongside Kobe for a fair share of touches, shots, spotlight and credit. It's a turnoff."

In a latest ESPN feature story also written by Abbott, Bryant has been hailed as one of the greatest player to ever wear purple-and-gold, but he's also the one to blame for the franchise's sudden decline.

"He is arguably the greatest player in the history of the Lakers' franchise. He is also destroying it from within," Abbott stated in the opening sentence of his feature story entitled 'KOBE.'

A week ago, ESPN ranked Bryant the 40^th best player in the league after the Lakers star missed a big chunk of games these past two seasons due to knee and torn ACL injury. Bryant didn't like that and called ESPN NBA experts a group of idiots for putting him way below the rankings.

"I've known for a long time they're a bunch of idiots.... I tend to use things as motivation that tends to be in the realm of reality," Bryant in response to his ESPN player's ranking.

This latest move by ESPN will certainly add spice to the back and forth war between the NBA superstar and the media giants, who seem already writing the Black Mamba off entering his 19^th NBA season of his career.