More Power to Him

Eight years of nasty debate ended Thursday night with the stroke of a designer pen.

The Lakers are undeniably, indisputably, however uncomfortably, Kobe’s team.

Kobe’s legacy.

Kobe’s burden.

It’s all on him, no matter how much he tried to shift and share Thursday in the glummest $136-million news conference in history.

Like a demanding little kid who just watched his parents go bankrupt buying him birthday presents, Bryant appeared more embarrassed than enthusiastic.

After eight years of acting like the big dog, he suddenly sounded like ... an underdog?

“Things have changed dramatically here, it’s going to be a struggle for us ... an uphill battle,” he said.

After eight years of fighting for control, he suddenly acted like just one of the guys.

“Dr. Buss chose to change the direction of this team, and as players and soldiers, we have to go out and do our part,” he said.

After a month of using his power to effect change in the NBA’s greatest franchise, he calmly claimed to be powerless.

“That I had something to do with Phil and Shaq leaving, that’s something I didn’t laugh at,” he said. “That upsets me, it angers me and it hurts me.”

It all sounded and felt very strange, as if any minute you expected Mitch Kupchak to shake him by the shoulders and point to the various corners of the Laker training facility and say, “Kobe! Isn’t this what you wanted? This is what you wanted?”

Of course this is what Kobe Bryant wanted.

Kobe’s team.

Kobe’s offense.

Kobe’s pressure.

On the first day he became boss of the locker room, Bryant seemed to huddle under the furor the Lakers caused in remodeling it for him.

An uphill battle?

Um, Jerry Buss didn’t gut the franchise for an uphill battle. Jerry Buss doesn’t do uphill battles. No matter how Bryant wants to spin it, he was chosen over Shaquille O’Neal because he could keep the Lakers at the top of the mountain.

If Bryant really wanted to play the part of a hero in an uphill battle, he would have gone to the Clippers.

Forget the topography. If the Lakers do not have a good season, it will be on Bryant’s shoulders. If they fail, it will be considered his failure.

If he needs lessons on this, he should call O’Neal, who every spring took every bullet for Bryant and everyone else.

As for the contention Bryant wants to be one of the faceless troops?

Can’t happen. Not anymore. As nutty as O’Neal sounded when he called himself the general, it is an idea that Bryant must embrace, and quickly.

No more 24-minute pouts in games with playoff implications.

No more unauthorized knee surgeries in Colorado.

No more waiting for the team to need you before scoring two dozen points in the fourth quarter to prove a point.

Then there’s that claim that Bryant had nothing to do with O’Neal and Phil Jackson’s leaving.

Fine. We’ll swallow that statement. He probably never actually uttered the words, “If you want to keep me, get rid of them.”

But Bryant admitted Thursday that he had talked to Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski after the season.

Yet he never discussed, or endorsed, Jackson.

And Bryant admitted that he has talked with Karl Malone about returning for another season.

Yet he never talked about O’Neal, never told Buss that despite their differences, the two men needed each other.

So, yeah, Bryant may not have personally shoved Jackson or O’Neal out the door.

But he never lifted a finger to stop their departures. And the minute they were both officially gone, he became a Laker again.

Sounds like an endorsement to me.

Speaking of endorsements, in the middle of writing this column, a co-worker just walked past and asked me for a check.

Turns out, the cost of our heavily shared Laker season ticket package was going up $7.50 a ticket.

One of the most dominant players in NBA history is gone. One of the top two coaches in NBA history is gone.

And prices are going up?

As of Thursday, the question is no longer whether the Lakers are worth it.

The question is, is Kobe Bryant worth it?

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

$100-Million Club

By re-signing with the Lakers, Kobe Bryant joined a list of NBA superstars with contracts worth $100 million or more under the current NBA labor deal (length of contracts in parentheses):

*--* Player Team Contract Kobe Bryant Lakers $136 (seven) Jermaine O’Neal Indiana $126 (seven) Chris Webber Sacramento $122 (seven) Tim Duncan San Antonio $122 (seven) Jason Kidd New Jersey $103 (six) Michael Finley Dallas $102 (seven) Kevin Garnett Minnesota $100 (five) Allan Houston New York $100 (six)

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NOTE: Shaquille O’Neal signed a seven-year, $120-million deal with the Lakers in 1996 and then signed an extension worth $88.5 million for three years, which has two years left on it.