The sexual assault case against Kobe Bryant was dropped on Wednesday, but the basketball All-Star did not win without a price.

Besides the huge cash sum that he is expected to pay his unnamed accuser, Bryant issued a statement, but it did not come through his attorneys. L. Lin Wood, the accuser’s attorney, sent out the statement, meaning the wording was agreed on by both sides.

“Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did,” he said in the statement. “After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.”

Bryant attorneys Pamela Mackey and Hal Haddon told ESPN that the accuser insisted on that statement “as a price of freedom.” However, while he did not admit he raped her, Bryant did admit that she may not have felt that their sexual encounter was consensual.

In the eyes of the public, Bryant is more than just a man who had an affair. His ideal wording to end the Colorado case would have been, “I slept with her, it was a mistake, and she lied about the rape.” Instead, his price to pay was more than just money; he lost some of his integrity.






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