On Monday morning, the Los Angeles Lakers signed Kobe Bryant to a two-year, $48 million contract extension. The deal locks up the face of the most important franchise in basketball through 2016, and will bring his total career earnings to around $328 million. Even if Kobe isn’t worth this extension, he’s absolutely been worth all of the money the Lakers have invested in him since 1996.

From a basketball perspective, Monday’s extension doesn’t make a lot of sense. The deal will pay Bryant $23.5 million next season and $25 million in 2015-16. Kobe is 35 years old and still has yet to return from an April Achilles tear. The Lakers are going to make him the highest-paid player in the league through age 37.

But more than basketball went into the Lakers’ decision to give Kobe this deal, and from that standpoint, he’s worth any amount of money they’re paying him, and will continue to be.

The deal will be up after his 20th season with the Lakers. John Stockton played 19 years with the Utah Jazz, but nobody in NBA history has ever played two full decades with the same team. These things matter to the Lakers and to Kobe.

As long as the Black Mamba is on the Lakers’ roster, he will be worth more money to the franchise (and to the NBA) than they’re paying him. Even when he’s hurt, he’s still one of the most popular athletes in the world. He’ll probably win a starting spot in the All-Star game despite not having played this season. The amount of money he brings in to the Lakers with jersey sales and ticket sales eclipses the $48 million they’ve committed to him over the next two years.

Kobe’s high annual salary is going to make it difficult for the Lakers to bring in other talent to return to title contention, but they were going to be a tough sell to free agents regardless. Carmelo Anthony would be leaving a lot of money and power on the table if he walked away from the Knicks, and it’s difficult to imagine LeBron James or Chris Bosh leaving Miami to play with an aging Kobe.

Kobe was never going to leave the Lakers. That just isn’t an option, any more than Tim Duncan will ever leave the San Antonio Spurs or Dirk Nowitzki will leave the Dallas Mavericks. At his age and with his injury, he’s worth more to the Lakers than he would be worth to any other team, and it’s better for him that he retires a Laker than any other scenario.

Is Kobe worth $48 million over the next two seasons? Probably not. But will he have been worth $328 million over the last 20? Absolutely.

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