Kobe Bryant - his days as a Laker are numbered.
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Hmm, Kobe ponders where to play?
Mark it on your calendar. Well, don’t mark the whole dang summer. It was just an expression.
Anyway, Summer of 2009 is when Kobe can walk out of LA as a Free (Agent) man.
Where oh Where will Kobe go? Sounds like a start to a good poem.
5 top reporters were polled on the possibility of the Lakers trading him first. Where would he go? (Must be they forgot about me, huh?)
The reporters are J.A. Adande, ESPN.com, Chris Broussard, ESPN The Mag, Ric Bucher, ESPN The Mag, Chris Sheridan, ESPN.com, and Marc Stein, ESPN.com.
Wait a minute; those are 5 ESPN reporters, which is why yours truly was not asked.
To get on with the story, Adande said Kobe would go to the Bulls.
The Bulls have a wealth of talented, smart young players. But the Lakers have to hold out for Luol Deng and/or Ben Gordon. They can’t make the same mistake they made the last time they dealt a superstar, when they sent Shaquille O’Neal to Miami and didn’t get a single all-star in return. source
The Bulls, of course, are dreaming it would be the second coming of MJ with the only problem in that scenario being that there is only one Michael Jordan.
Broussard has Kobe going to maybe Chicago, maybe Dallas, but not Phoenix. Geez, make up your mind.
I think Dallas will be in the hunt (if I were the Mavs, I’d trade Dirk for Kobe straight up). Forget the Knicks, and I don’t see how Phoenix can get it done without breaking up its duo of Nash and Stoudemire.
Hmm, Dirk on the Lakers? Why would they do that? Kobe shoots enough without having a 7 foot outside gunner. No knock on Dirk as he is a perfect fit for the shoot before you blink Dallas team.
Bucher thinks Dallas or Chicago and ponders the Celtics.
If the Lakers would accept a Paul Pierce package, he’d happily go play with KG and Ray Allen. Would the Lakers accept a Suns package that didn’t include Nash or Amare? He’d go there, too.
My guess is that Chicago remains the only logical choice for both Kobe and the Lakers, because it puts him in the East, far from L.A. — as well as San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix, if you can smell what I’m steppin’ in. He does have a no-trade clause, so he won’t go just anywhere and he won’t go to a team stripped of contention by the deal.
Hey, this Chicago/Dallas thing is getting old. Kobe has a no trade clause and these are the only two teams on his short list with Phoenix on the long list.
Sheridan also has Kobe going to the Bulls and amuses us with the number of players needed in return to match salaries. Another interesting notion he gives us is the Knicks.
But no one has deeper pockets than Dolan, who would be more than willing to pay Kobe’s full trade kicker and give him an extension that would make even Allan Houston jealous.
Still, there’s always the question of whether the Lakers would accept anything offered by New York, which would try to overwhelm the Lakers with some voluminous combination of Jamal Crawford plus young talent on rookie contracts (David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, Nate Robinson, Randolph Morris), plus Malik Rose or Quentin Richardson for salary cap purposes.
What is that smell? Is it David Stern thinking of reviving the Chicago market or better yet jump starting the New York market?
Sheridan also toys with the idea of a New Jersey trade of Vince Carter. Unfortunately, Vince is no Kobe.
Stein brings up the point that Kobe Bryant has the only no trade clause in the NBA. The only one in the NBA (that beared repeating). How stupid is Jerry Buss?
The only teams on Kobe’s list are Chicago, Phoenix (not going to happen), and Dallas.
So what does your NBA Hit and Run Obsessed author think? How funny it would be to trade him to Miami! Actually, it is easy to say Chicago, but if Kobe allowed it, the Nets, Celtics, Cavs, and Pacers all have possibilities.
We will have to keep tabs on how this unfolds.
But the handwriting is on the wall. Kobe will not be a Laker for much longer.
NBA Basketball Fan Question What city do you have Kobe going to?
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POSTED IN: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, NBA Basketball, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Paul Pierce, Player Movement, Shaq
1 opinion for Kobe Bryant - his days as a Laker are numbered.
Amazing_Happens
Mar 22, 2008 at 1:58 am
His days are numbered, yes. Like 365 x 6 more days with the Lakers.
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