Kobe's Already Rough Month Gets Even Worse

By - Kris Fletcher

Even for the casual NBA fan, it's plain to see that the month of December has not been particularly kind to Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Photo by: Getty Images

First, it looked liked Kobe would be getting all-star Chris Paul as a backcourt running mate, but Commissioner David Stern swooped in and put the veto to that trade. Paul ended up with the in-town rival Clippers instead.

Next, teammate and close friend Lamar Odom was traded away to the Dallas Mavericks, the same squad that swept the Lakers right out of the playoffs last year.

Now, Kobe's wife is probably about to take him to the cleaners.

On Friday, Vanessa Bryant filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences."

According to multiple sources, Vanessa - who stuck by Kobe after he was charged with sexually assaulting a Colorado woman back in 2003 - decided to end the marriage because she believes Kobe has been unfaithful again.

The couple has been married over 10 years, and reportedly, there is no prenup in place. If that's the case, she's entitled to half his net worth, which is estimated to be somewhere in the ballpark of around $360 million.

I don't want to speculate as to what kind of effect a messy divorce proceeding could have on Kobe's game, but I will say the Lakers in general don't need this distraction if they want to compete for a championship this season.

They're already dealing with the fact that they have a new head coach, are learning a new system, and are having to get over some key personnel losses. Now, add the possibility of not having Kobe focused 100% on the task at hand to the mix, and that may very well spell doom for the team before the season even gets underway.

Then again, I assume this is nothing another $4 million dollar diamond ring couldn't fix...