Kobe Bryant isn't ready to start issuing trade demands as the Los Angeles Lakers look like a team that will have a difficult time reaching the playoffs.
"I hear the chatter of Kobe should ask out and he should go and play for a contender in this latter stage of his career," Bryant told Yahoo Sports. "But that's not what I do. I'm extremely loyal to the Lakers.
"I believe in fighting through the tough times as well as enjoying the good times. It's my responsibility to get us to be the best that we can be. It's important that we approach that on a day-to-day basis."
The Lakers are off to a 0-4 start and have already lost Julius Randle and Steve Nash for the season.
"We can't get discouraged by it," Bryant said. "It's a very long season. You just have to stay the course. Keep on looking to improve, keep on looking to get better and things will eventually break.
"I've enjoyed a great amount of success here. You can't just enjoy the successful times and then run away from the bad ones. No, I don't even think about [departing]. I'm a Laker."
Bryant makes $23.5 million this season and $25 million in the next, which would limit the Lakers' ability to trade him.
The Lakers were unable to accomplish much in free agency with Carmelo Anthony re-signing with the New York Knicks and LeBron James going to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"It was really tough to land those free agents just because of the opportunities that they had," Bryant said. "You got 'Melo going back to New York, LeBron going back home to Cleveland. The odds just weren't in our favor. But I took comfort in the fact that the Lakers did absolutely everything possible to make it happen. Absolutely everything possible.
"We offered Pau an incredible deal. I saw them put the work in. It's much different than in 2007 when I felt like they were just sitting on their hands. This is not that case. They were going after it and being aggressive. I will fight for that till the end. They tried, tried and tried and it didn't work out. I stand behind them 110 percent. I bleed purple and gold."