The Lakers were one no trade clause away from trading Kobe Bryant
It’s no secret that Kobe Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles in 2007. It’s no secret that the Lakers were willing to deal Bryant to Chicago, one of the teams Kobe preferred to go to for these players.
Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon and Joakim Noah.
Looking back out how these players turned out years later, it’s a wonder how this deal had legs in the first place.
- Tyrus Thomas was a bust.
- Ben Gordon fell off a cliff after he got his big contract with Detroit.
- Joakim Noah was worse when he got his deal with New York.
The holdup on the deal was Bryant wanted Deng to stay in Chicago (Look this was not the Deng Lakers fan knew). Luckily, that delay in negotiations was enough for Dr. Jerry Buss to step in and convince Kobe Bryant into staying. Sure, most NBA fans knew about that deal.
How many knew that the Los Angeles Lakers were GOING to trade Kobe Bryant to the Detroit Pistons?
Well, Kobe Bryant was on the Grantland Basketball Hour with Bill Simmons and told the true story. He let it be known that the Lakers were ready to make a deal to ship him to Detroit Pistons for this package.
Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and a number of draft picks.
The only thing that stopped the deal was Kobe Bryant had a no trade clause in his contract.
Just think If that trade had gone through? Detroit would have had a squad of Bryant, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess to make another run for the NBA Finals after an Eastern Conference loss to Boston. Think LeBron’s Cleveland squad would have gotten past that crew?
Lakers Nation still cringes at the Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng contracts. Think about how bad they would be moaning at a roster of Hamilton, Prince, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher.
But as the old saying goes, “The best deals are the ones that are never made”.
While those two deals that did not go through, Kobe’s trust and faith in Dr. Buss paid off. Eventually, the Lakers eventually completed one of the biggest highway robbery trades of all-time with the Memphis Grizzlies turning a group of youngsters and draft picks into Pau Gasol.
With Gasol in the fold, the Los Angeles Lakers took off and made it to the next three NBA Finals, which included back-to-back championships over the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics.