Lakers star Kobe Bryant rolls on despite negative article

Kobe Bryant appeared before the media late Tuesday night and never looked upset at the question he seemed to know was coming.

Bryant had been ripped yet again, this time in a scathing article on ESPN.com in which he was blamed for the demise of the Lakers and for supposedly being the primary reason why free agents have refused to sign with the team.

The Lakers didn’t land high-profile free agents LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony during last summer’s free-agency period and lost their own free agent, Pau Gasol, to the Chicago Bulls.

The ESPN article, quoting anonymous sources, framed Bryant as someone who alienated potential free agents and teammates.

After scoring 27 points during the Lakers’ 114-108 overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns at Honda Center in Anaheim, Bryant addressed the story that ran on Monday.

“It’s not the first one, it’s not going to be the last one,” Bryant said. “The one thing I’ve come to understand over the years is that you’ll have a bad story that comes out on a Monday and it seems like it’s the end of the world. It seems like everybody is taking shots at you.

“But time goes by, and then you look back and it’s just a Monday. Right? Then have another great story that comes out maybe a month later or something like that and it’s a fantastic story. And then there’s a bad story that comes out a month after that.

“It’s a cycle. And things are never as good or as bad as they seem at the moment in time. So you stay focused on the big picture. Things are never really as bleak as they seem at the time. I just kind of roll with it.”