Kobe Rumor Mill Calls for Some Nosing Around

I’ve read reports the last couple days that Kobe Bryant said he was going to opt out of his Laker contract after next season and test the free-agent market. ESPN.com asked the question Monday, “Is Kobe getting tired of the Lakers?” and added, “[ESPN.com] insider Chad Ford thinks so.”

I also started getting e-mail from folks fearful Kobe would be leaving L.A., like it was my fault, and then it dawned on me it probably would be.

Ever since my daughter agreed to take the guy on in a three-point shooting contest, there’s no question he’s been on the run, I presume fearful she’d want to shoot from the college three-point line and he wouldn’t be able to avoid the embarrassment of losing to a girl.

So I called Kobe in Minneapolis on Monday to tell him -- in the interests of keeping him in town -- she’d be agreeable to move back to the NBA three-point line to give him a better chance, and he laughed. Strange how some people react when they’re scared.

“Oh man, I’m shaking in my boots,” he said, and I’ve always liked that about Kobe, his ability to be honest no matter how it might make him look.

“Every time I miss a three-pointer now, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Darn, she would have made it,’ ” he said, and can you imagine how this guy would open up if Dr. Phil ever got a hold of him.

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IT’S A good thing I talked to Kobe personally because I learned something very important. He said he never said that he intends to opt out of his Laker contract after next season. I presume he’s still scared about losing to a girl, but no, he never said he plans to test the free-agent market, and possibly leave L.A.

“I just never said that,” Kobe said, which kind of makes all these newspaper and internet reports saying otherwise suspect.

The Los Angeles Daily News wrote a big story about Kobe’s decision to opt out of his contract, ran his picture and underneath his name, wrote: “Lakers point guard says he wants to test the market in 2004.”

I read the whole story and never found quote marks around any such thing said by Kobe, or anything else said by him, and for that matter no announcement from Coach Phil Jackson that Kobe has now relieved Derek Fisher as the team’s point guard.

“It bugs me when people start talking about things that aren’t true and start running with them and start making all these assumptions,” Kobe said. “Everybody has got me playing some place else now.”

So how did this get started? I asked.

“A reporter asked me if I ever think about free agency, and I said, ‘Yeah, I do,’ but I never said I’d opt out of my contract. I’m a very detailed person on everything, and I love to learn about the salary cap and all the intricacies of business details and when the time is right I will check everything out. But L.A. is my home -- I just built a house there.

“I haven’t even thought about my contract; I’m not thinking of anything but winning a fourth title. Looking down the road, I guess, if you were into gambling -- and if I were you -- I’d bet I’ll be playing right here in Los Angeles.”

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WHAT A relief to learn I won’t be responsible for running both Kobe and F.P. Santangelo out of town. And by the sound of it, I guess he won’t mind letting the kid shoot from college range when they meet for the benefit of local charities after the championship parade.

Let’s face it, Kobe already owes her almost everything. If she doesn’t keep the heat on, his jersey doesn’t become the No. 1 seller in the NBA and he has no chance for MVP consideration. What kid wants to wear the jersey of a guy who throws up nothing but bricks from long range?

Hard to believe now, but one year ago in 80 regular-season games, Kobe made 33 three-pointers -- hitting 25% of his attempts. I mentioned the daughter to Kobe when the playoffs began last year, and he responded by hitting 22 three-pointers in 19 playoff games, connecting on 38% of his attempts.

“Did you see those threes?” he yelled at me while holding the NBA championship trophy after hitting two of three in Game 4 against the Nets.

When he reverted to 33% career form earlier this season, I offered to have the daughter work with him -- our little secret, I said -- and that night he set the NBA record for most threes in a game. He finished the season with 124 threes, shooting 38%.

(It might be time for me to have a nice chat with Adrian Beltre, now that I’m thinking about it.)

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WHEN THE votes are counted, of course, Kobe will not be MVP. The media, which votes for such things, will penalize Kobe for playing with Shaq -- even though he saved the season for the Lakers -- while favoring players such as Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson because they essentially play alone. Kobe, at best, probably finishes fourth in voting.

And apparently this presents a problem for the daughter: “Dad, if I’m going to shoot in a contest, I’d rather do it against the very best the game has to offer.”

For someone who is going to be marrying a Grocery Store Bagger, she sure is picky, but she has a point. It would probably be more challenging for her if she was at least trying to beat the MVP of the NBA Finals.

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WE HAVE already seen the power of the Donkey as the Dodgers responded to the “name the Donkey” contest -- which began Sunday here -- with a 16-run rally to beat the Giants for the first time this season. As soon as I mentioned “mule” and “Fred McGriff” in the same sentence, he got four hits. McGriff, not the mule. I know, shocking.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Kenny D’Aquila:

“I never thought there would come a day when I would cancel my newspaper subscription due to the ineptness of a sportswriter, but I have.”

Maybe if you practiced turning the page you’d eventually get the hang of it.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.