I disagree with the first part of your post, but agree with the second part. Kobe still had dominant moments in his final year. The team wasn’t going anywhere anyways and it is not as if Kobe hampered them from winning titles (because they weren’t going to win with some of those squads). And, as you mentioned, he won them five titles. He gets to go out on his terms.
On the other hand, Pujols has been a boat anchor for the Angels since day one. He’s definitely one of the most selfish players of all time and will go down as one of, it not the, worst Angels signing of all time.