Timeline of the Kobe-Karl story

Posted on LG.net on 12/14.

I am going to re-create the Malone-Bryant timeline

Prior to 11/23
It is not clear how close the Bryants and the Malones were, but they appear to have been quite friendly. Bryant said on 12/12:

We've had fun, myself, my wife, [Malone's wife] Kaye, him, we've had fun together. We've been at their house together, joking around, giving each other a hard time, just clowning and being sarcastic with one another, whatever. Baby-sitting the kids and all that.

In that same LA Times story, Bryant's agent added:

Pelinka said Bryant and Malone were so tight that Malone confided to Bryant before the season that he would not return to play this season.

"He said, 'Hey Kobe, I'm done playing I really want to focus on my family. It's time for me to walk away from the game,' " Pelinka said. "Kobe became emotional about it and said, 'Wow, that's big news. If that's your decision, I wish you all the best. I hope it goes well for you and your family.' "

Malone's agent said Malone might have said he was close to retiring, but did not go beyond that.

"Karl was still hurt at the time," Manley said. "He was telling everybody he was leaning toward retiring."

Other evidence that Kobe and Karl were close come from this LA Times story:

When Malone arrived at Laker practice during training camp, he and Bryant embraced, and Bryant pretended to spar with Malone's son, Karl Jr. Malone, who has remained in peak shape, felt the bulked-up Bryant's biceps and they shared a private laugh.

and from the Shaq

"I'm very surprised how it came out," O'Neal said. "I've never seen anything like that before. I thought him and Karl were best friends."

Last season, Malone's first with the Lakers, "Karl was . . . the liaison between me and that guy," added O'Neal, who steadfastly refuses to speak Bryant's name. "I was always under the impression they were closer than they were."

11/23
Something happened that destroyed the relationship between Kobe and Malone. This day will be discussed later.

12/3
Per this LA Times story, Malone's agent Dwight Manley "and Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak had dinner on Friday before the Lakers' game against Golden State, and progress had been made in discussing Malone's future with the team, Manley said."

12/6
Kobe gave an interview on the "Loose Cannons" show on the XTRA radio station. Kobe said that it was his "intuition" that Malone was going to retire and that it was tough for teammates "to be looking over their shoulder, wondering if [Malone]'s going to come back and then everybody is going to disappear." Kobe also said, "it's not really fair to hold [Malone's situation] over the guys' heads that are here . They are here giving me 110% . I mean, you can't sit up here and speculate for the remainder of the season whether or not he is going to come back." Kobe didn't mention the 11/23 incident or that Karl had told him that he was going to retire. Posters on Lakersground didn't perceive anything negative about the interview.

12/7
Manley reports that

"Karl is furious and irate and said this is unacceptable, coupled with some personal comments Kobe made to Karl recently in private that have eliminated the Lakers from his choice, which is counter to what the owner, general manager and several stars on the team have been hoping for, as well as some of the fans. It's pretty obvious with what happened with Phil [Jackson], Shaq [O'Neal] and now Karl, there's a pattern of tearing people down. This was a clear statement."

"This is a pretty emotional, traumatic thing," he said. "We were really working toward doing a deal with the Lakers that was really moving in an off-court capacity and potential on-court capacity. All those discussions have stopped at Karl's direction."

Manley also said Malone had fully recovered from off-season surgery on his right knee and would decide next month whether to return to the NBA or retire. The leading candidate to sign Malone, if he chooses to play, is the San Antonio Spurs, who have the best record in the Western Conference.

Malone then told Bill Plaschke

"The bottom line is, Kobe Bryant doesn't want me to play for him, and it's his team," Malone said. "You've got to be wanted, and he doesn't want me there."
:
"When I see that situation there, I would love to play with those young kids, are you kidding me?" Malone said. "But when your main player doesn't want you, I don't have time for all that."
:
"No disrespect to anyone, but this wasn't an equipment guy saying this," Malone said. "This was the player who you gave your franchise to. I can read between the lines."
:
"I don't want to throw daggers at anyone, but I would have quit my job before I traded Shaquille O'Neal," he said. "I would have been unemployed before I would trade him, and that's all I'll say."

Plaschke's column has some unsourced statements that are also interesting:

On the surface, Bryant's radio comments do not seem to warrant such strong reaction. But don't be fooled. This is about more than that.

Bryant's words represented only a final shove, with Malone speaking as if Bryant had been pushing him out the door for weeks.
:
There has been talk of how, unlike some teams that have phoned Malone every day, Bryant rarely spoke to Malone during his rehabilitation from knee surgery, even though they live only blocks apart.

When they did speak recently, according to agent Dwight Manley, their conversations were not pleasant.

Malone, an old-fashioned sort who refused to publicly criticize Bryant, is clearly not thrilled that Bryant speaks as if he is the team's player-coach, talking about his teammates "giving me 110%."

Also a sensitive sort, Malone undoubtedly wonders why Bryant has not publicly supported him the way Malone was often the only player who publicly supported Bryant amid the sexual assault allegations.

My summary of 12/7 developments
Manley's comments sounds like he doesn't know that 11/23 happened and that Karl told him when ranting about the interview that Kobe had made some rude comments to him recently. I really wonder he gave Plaschke his background story. What Plaschke reported directly contradicts that "Kobe and Karl were close" story that started this timeline. To me, Malone is playing cute, acting as if the interview was a big deal when 11/23 was the big deal. Then Malone brings in the "wouldn't trade Shaq" dagger.

12/8
Kobe apologizes to Karl through the media.

Bryant appeared to be surprised by Malone's strong reaction and apologized five times in a seven-minute session with reporters.

"I'm shocked by it, really," Bryant said. "If I offended him, I apologize for that. I'm sorry for that, really. I meant nothing by it. I didn't think it was anything directed toward him or anything like that. I would love to have him here. I'm sure we would too, everybody would. If he still wants to come back and play, the door's always open here."

Bryant said he tried to call Malone and "square it all out," but had no success.

"If I felt like he was a distraction, I would have said it," Bryant said. "I didn't say anything like, 'I don't want him to come back' or 'He's a distraction.' I didn't say anything like that. It was in no way intended as an attack toward Karl or anything like that. I just wanted to make sure that my players know that I believe in them and I believe in what we have. If Karl comes back, it's going to be a tremendous addition to our ballclub, but if he doesn't, I'm fine with rolling with the guys that we have here because I have confidence in them too."
:
Said Bryant, when asked about his relationship with Malone: "You've always got little things that you don't see eye to eye on, but it's not big enough for me to sit up here and say, 'You can't come back and play here for the Lakers because blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.' I wouldn't do that."

In the end, after apologizing for a final time, Bryant said he would understand Malone's decision, whatever it may be.

"If he wants to go play someplace else, I can't hold that against him," he said.

My summary of 12/8 developments
Bryant says all the right things and tries to play down the innuendo about "personal comments".

12/11
T. J. Simers confronts Kobe with a story that has been going around town - that Malone had come on to his wife at the 11/23 Laker game, that after the game Vanessa told Kobe about it, that Kobe then called Malone on his cellphone and told him off. Kobe confirms the story. Simers then calls Manley and asks for his side of the story. Manley said

Malone hugged Vanessa, and then Vanessa asked as Manley recounts this part of the story "Hey, cowboy, what are you hunting?"

"She said it twice," Manley said, "and Karl answered the second time, 'I'm hunting for little Mexican girls.' "
:
"Karl wants me to give you two messages," Manley said after calling Malone. "He never hit on Vanessa, nor would he . In fact, when he first heard about [the accusation], he said, 'You have to be kidding me.'

"As for the comments he made to her that offended her personally, he told both her and Kobe that night that he apologized."

Manley said that after Malone apologized, "Kobe followed that with a string of threats."

Simers publishes this information in his 12/12 column in the LA Times.

12/12
After the Simers column, Kobe goes public with his descriptions of 11/23. I think the most of the LA Times article is worth repeating:

Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, related more alleged contents Sunday of a cellphone conversation during the Nov. 23 game.

Malone was courtside at Staples Center for that game, invited on behalf of the Lakers, and Vanessa Bryant was across the court, a few rows behind the Laker bench.

Vanessa Bryant was on her cellphone with Kaye Malone, who did not attend the game and was at home in Newport Beach. Vanessa Bryant told Kaye Malone that Karl Malone's son, Karl Jr., looked bored during the game. Kaye Malone said to give Karl Malone a call on his cellphone and invite Karl Jr. to sit with the Bryant family.

Karl Malone responded improperly when Vanessa Bryant called him, Pelinka said.

According to Pelinka, Malone said at that point, " 'No, why don't you come sit by me and give me a big hug that would be on the front cover of every magazine in the country?' Vanessa said, 'What?' "

According to Pelinka, Malone also said he was "hunting for a young Mexican girl" in response to a question from Vanessa Bryant as to why he was wearing a cowboy hat. Vanessa Bryant is a Latina.

Kobe Bryant said he had strong words for Malone during a cellphone conversation from his car after the game.

"Stay away from my wife," Bryant recalled Sunday as saying to Malone. "What's wrong with you? How could you?

"He said, 'I'm sorry if I said anything, if I was out of line, I'll apologize.' What he said is what he said. This thing went on for a while. My wife isn't going to sit there and exaggerate something or blow something out of proportion that doesn't need to be blown out of proportion. She felt uncomfortable being around the dude to the point where she felt like she had to call his wife and tell his wife, 'Your husband's acting out of control right now.' "

Malone's agent, Dwight Manley, said Malone did not act inappropriately.

"Karl did not do what he was accused of," Manley said. "He never hit on [Bryant's] wife. This is a soap opera that is affecting the best power forward ever and a gigantic franchise. Karl did not want to get sucked into it as much as he has. It's all the Bryants' soap opera. It's a personal matter between Kobe and his wife and Karl got drawn into it like a pawn."

Bryant said he could separate "personal from business" if Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Jerry Buss went through with a plan to meet with Malone and Manley in the next week or two.

The Lakers are still interested in retaining the services of Malone, who has recovered from off-season knee surgery and is deciding whether to retire or return for a 20th season. The San Antonio Spurs are considered the front-runners to sign Malone, 41.

"If Mitch feels like and Buss felt like he could come back and play for us and help us out, that's a decision they're going to have to make," Bryant said.

Kobe's side of the story
Karl hit on his wife on 11/23. Kobe called him and Karl didn't deny it. On 11/23, Kobe and his wife called Karl and his wife to try to patch things up and Karl denied everything. Kobe and Karl's relationship was ruined at that point, but Kobe was willing to keep his month shut and have Karl back on his team if it would help his team. However, [my guess] Kobe was getting tired of waiting for Karl to commit to coming back with the Lakers (given that Kobe probably knew that Karl was almost full recovered) and his pique showed in a couple of comments made during a radio interview. Karl overreacted to the comments. For the good of the team, Kobe apologized (even though there wasn't anything to apolgize for) and said that he would love to have him on the Lakers. Then Simers approached him with the real story and Kobe couldn't deny it. I can't find any holes in that story.

Malone's side of the story
When Karl talked to Vanessa at the 11/23 game, he was just goshing. He hadn't talked to her directly before without either his wife or Kobe being there, so Vanessa misunderstood his comments and overreacted. Karl apologized. When Kobe called him on his cellphone, Karl couldn't believe that Vanessa had convinced Kobe he was really hitting on her. He apologized to Kobe. Kobe refused his apology and WAY overreacted. When Kobe and Vanessa called the next day, they were still WAY overreacting and tried to damage his marriage. That ended his relationship with Kobe. Karl was already pissed at Kobe and when he read the transcript of Kobe's radio, he blew up - first to his agent then to Bill Plaschke.

However, I can't make a consistent story for Karl. If he knew that Kobe didn't want him around and that was why he didn't want to come back to the Lakers, why didn't he have his agent tell Mitch that when they had dinner with Mitch on 12/3? Instead, his agent gave the Lakers every indication that Karl was coming back to the Lakers. If Karl was interested in not getting sucked into the "Bryants' soap opera", why did he jump all over Kobe's fairly innocent comments? Why did his agent bring up that their recent personal conversations had been unpleasant? Did they really expect that why the conversations were unpleasant would never come out? Why did Karl bring up the "wouldn't trade Shaq" topic? All Karl had to do after Kobe's radio interview was to say, "I am going to end the speculation now and say that I am not coming back to the Lakers. They have lots of young players that need playing time and they don't need a veteran at the end of his career like me."

My guess is that Karl never told his agent about 11/23. When Karl read the transcript of the radio interview, he was pissed enough to blow up. However, he wasn't honest enough to admit that this was minor compared to 11/23. Rather than admit that he was at least partially responsibly for the end of his relationship with Kobe, he tried to make Kobe to look like the bad guy for his not returning to the Lakers. Now that it has come out that he made comments to Vanessa that she interpreted as hitting on her, Karl doesn't want to talk about his personal relationship with the Bryant's because he knows nothing he can say will sound good.