Remember that time the Los Angeles Lakers were essentially a phone call away from fleecing the New Orleans Pelicans (then Hornets) in a trade for Chris Paul?
It’s a trade that your fantasy basketball league would have vetoed, much like then NBA commissioner David Stern who stating ‘basketball reasons’ declined the Lakers trade with the Hornets. Although it would be interesting to see what he would have done to your fantasy basketball rankings if you decide to keep him around.
Not long after, Chris Paul was traded to the LA Clippers and the rest is history as the Lakers have struggled to get out of the depths of the Western Conference. Despite that, Kobe Bryant happens to think Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak is a genius, which he apparently told LaMarcus Aldridge in the free agent meeting between the two.
Bryant didn’t stop there: He brought up the blocked Chris Paul trade to Aldridge as even greater proof of Mitch Kupchak’s team-building brilliance.
There are a lot of things one might call Mitch Kupchak, but I’m not sure ‘brilliant’ is one of them. That’s not to say he’s a bad GM, but let’s be honest here. He’s working with one of the biggest franchises in professional sports (not just the NBA) who has pretty much every advantage at their hands (locale, weather, marketing, finances) yet the Lakers have long struggled under his watch.
So I don’t many are going to agree with Kobe Bryant thinking the Lakers GM is a genius.
