Phil Jackson is now in the bribing business.

Via ESPN Los Angeles:

The Los Angeles Lakers have never been known as a team that takes offensive charges. They are trying to change that. Last series, Phil Jackson called his big men “thin-chested” as a way of goading them into standing strong and taking a hit, and the team has been offering financial incentive — $50 per charge.

“To motivate us in a way to take charges and getting away with it,” explained Sasha Vujacic.

And Vujacic says that the way the Celtics players play, the Lakers believe they could be in line to make some extra cash.

“Their whole team is kind of a charging possibility taking team. We just got to be smart,” Vujacic said. “They are a very smart team that can go from block to a charge, so we’ve been working a lot on charges and how to take them and stuff, so we’ll see.

I have to laugh at an NBA team trying to learn how to take charges right before the NBA Finals. Isn’t taking charges something you learn in training camp, or junior high school or something? But as much as I laughed about that, my abs (or whatever’s left of them after the eroding of my once-svelte physique) took a far worse beating while laughing about Jackson’s bribe:

50 bucks? For an NBA player? Kobe Bryant can sneeze and 50 bucks come flying out of his nostrils. Are you trying to tell me he’ll take a charge for that money? Please.

If the Lakers do take any charges in the Finals, it won’t be because of 50 bucks. It’ll be for that ring at the end of the rainbow. A ring that will hopefully fit the Celtics’ fingers very nicely.