With more than 4,000 words, ESPN's Henry Abbott answered: "Is Kobe Bryant the reason for the Lakers' downfall?" He said "yes."

The story that first appeared on ESPN The Magazine Monday did not even want to give a peek-a-boo, just below the title saying Bryant could be the greatest cager to suit up for the Lakers but "is also destroying it from within."

Bryant managed to play only six games for the Lakers in 2013, after suffering a knee injury that many feared would end the 36-year-old's career, Sporting News said, noting his age, injury history and growing inefficiency.

Media outlets acknowledge that Bryant is polarizing fans and basketball analysts, especially in predicting whether or not the Lakers will be coming back from dire strait.

The ESPN piece said when the Lakers won the NBA Finals in 2010, Bryant, then 31, had played a central role, with the help of a grade-A management team and coplayers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. All signs indicated that they would keep on performing strongly, it added.

However, they are now 28^th on the ESPN list -- a "free falll," the report said, largely due to the Lakers' longtime superstar.

"Kobe is like the big rock in their front yard... You can't mow over it, so you just have to mow around it," ESPN quoted an unnamed source, an NBA agent, as saying.

Another agent, who has Lakers clients, said: "Well, duh... Isn't that obvious?" He answered an ESPN question: Is Bryant somehow getting in the way of the Lakers' bid to find new free agents?

"I've had a lot of clients in the last five years, good players, who didn't want to play with Kobe... They see that his teammates become the chronic public whipping boys," another agent said

Abbott also noted that Bryant was the reason Dwight Howard left the Lakers. Steve Nash, on his first year with the Lakers, said in another interview that Bryant would possess the ball most of the time.

Deadspin noticed that the essay was rather heavy on unnamed sources in exploring its story, a fact that has made angry fans question the truthfulness of the report.

In the end, it said, Abbott may be reading too much into the recruitment issue, because Ramon Sessions' choice might be because of the longer deal with the Charlotte Bobcats, now Hornets, and Howard's might be due to the better chance of winning with the Houston Rockets, for example.

Deadspin also said that Jim Buss, who had replaced his late father Jerry, chose not to get on Bryant's nerves, after starting off with Howard 's goodbye and harsh criticism. Moreover, it said, even if Bryant was not producing points, he was still the best moneymaker for a team that is losing its fame.

Bryant said that his placement as only the 40^th best player in the NBA has become a motivation, while regarding ESPN is "a bunch of idiots." Let's see if that is motivating enough.