" Kobe Bryant spoke, and his words carried all the way back to Los Angeles, and beyond.

He spoke up for his teammate, Pau Gasol, in the hopes that his words would bring some sort of closure to the novella surrounding the Spaniard's future with the Lakers. Bryant likes Gasol, wants him to stay with the Lakers, but enough is enough with the limbo.

"When Kobe speaks up, it means things are getting bad," said a person with ties to the Lakers superstar. "It means nobody's telling him anything."

But there were other motives behind Bryant's words, and people familiar with how things have been running within the Lakers organization believe it's about time somebody unleashed those words and the motives behind them. General manager Mitch Kupchak issued a written statement Monday night responding to Bryant's rant, essentially saying the only thing that could be said: Management will explore trades, and to say otherwise would be futile and detrimental to the team. "