Kobe Bryant vetoed a 2007 trade that would have sent the Lakers star to the Pistons because he wanted to play for the Chicago Bulls.
Crazy as it is to imagine, the Los Angeles Lakers traded Kobe Bryant in 2007 – you just didn’t know about it.
Yep, according to Bryant, who appeared on the Grantland Basketball Hour, the Lakers agreed on a trade with the Detroit Pistons in 2007 but the Black Mamba vetoed the trade. Why? Because he wanted to be dealt to the Chicago Bulls.
As you’ll likely recall, Bryant requested that he be traded after the team struggled and shockingly the Lakers followed through. Bryant didn’t say whom he would have been traded for, though did admit the deal was done and simply pending his approval.
“I said, ‘I gave you a list of teams I’m comfortable being traded to. That wasn’t one of them. So, no,'” he told Grantland.
For what it’s worth, the Bulls and Lakers then discussed their own trade which would have sent Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, and Joakim Noah to the Los Angeles Lakers – a trade that was much more publicized than the Detroit Pistons deal.
Alas, that trade didn’t work out either though that was on the end of the Lakers and Bulls, not because of Bryant who apparently would have welcomed a trade to the Windy City.
Certainly a bunch of what it scenarios to think about.
