Lakers Owner Considering Kobe Trade
Big baby Kobe Bryant may get his wish after all. Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss said he would consider trading Bryant, the NBA's scoring leader the past two seasons, under the right circumstances. "At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It's just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit.
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The Lakers won three championships and reached the NBA finals four times in five years before Shaquille O'Neal was traded to Miami in July 2004. They haven't won a playoff series since O'Neal left. Bryant has four years worth $88.6 million left on the seven-year contract he signed a day after O'Neal was traded, but can terminate the deal in two years. If he did so, he would be leaving $47.8 million on the table.
"I tend not to think in basketball terms that many years down the road because things change so dramatically, but he could test the waters at that point," Buss said. "If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we win between now and then so it doesn't come up." Buss went on to say, "I told him when I walked in that I was going to try to talk him out of it. And he said, `I'll listen carefully.' And he did. "He listened very carefully for 30, 45 minutes. I tried to explain to him how much the city of Los Angeles loved him, and that to leave 10 million sweethearts for unknown territory might not be the right thing to do. But when I was finished, he said he basically felt the same way. And I said, `OK. With that, I will proceed to see what's available.'" Buss didn't elaborate other than to say he might have made a move on a trade offer that was "within reason."
The 29-year-old Bryant is about to begin his 12th NBA season, all with the Lakers.