At the end of this season the Los Angeles Lakers are sure to offer superstar shooting guard a contract extension worth $54.8 million over three years reports Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Times, but it seems unlikely Kobe will accept.

Before you get any ideas on how to get him onto your team it does not look like Kobe is set to depart from the Lakers, the decision clearly being of the business nature.  "I haven't decided yet" was Kobe's response.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires after the 2004-2005 season, the same time as Bryant's contract.  With Kobe never being a fan of the current CBA, believing it is too restrictive for player movement.  But when signing for the max he also said he'd be a Laker for life, and after two championship rings nothing seems to have changed.

Brown mentions in his article that Coach Phil Jackson has said that he "probably" would serve out his five-year contract and leave the team after the 2003-04 season, and Shaquille O'Neal has taken the Michael Jordan approach and said if Phil leave he will too (yeah right, and give up $62 million in his last two years on his contract).

But all signs seem to point towards Kobe rejecting the Lakers offer in order to potentially gain flexibility should there be a new bargaining agreement, a move which could also have an adverse effect on his financial arrangements.  

Either way Los Angeles is set to put the offer on the table, with GM Mitch Kupchak adding "Our intent would be to keep Kobe Bryant with us as long as possible, however he chooses to go about it."