The 2007 NBA playoffs first game between the Lakers and Pheonix Suns led to the Laker’s loss of 87-95 over the Suns. But Kobe Bryant ended up making 39 points. However, the loss was not well taken him and therefore, he demanded a trade from the Laker’s management.
However, due to this, the trade request led his teammates to feel like Kobe stabbed them in the back. According to former Lakers player Luke Walton, he felt that the trade decision by Kobe was incorrect.
In an episode of Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers documentary, Luke talked on the matter. He said, “He was not bluffing at all. I was, what the — we’re f**king, we’re building something here. What are we talking about? And then it turned into you know, naive phone calls between me and other teammates. We said we don’t need him anyway. You know, we’d kind of be, like, laughing, like well. We kind of do need him but if he doesn’t want to be here, f**k him. -he said.
According to sources, in the 2006 season, Bryant earned a sum of $17.72 million. If he gets traded to any other team a value of $13 million would have been added to that figure. With that said, let’s take a look into the reason that led the Lakers star Kobe Bryant to come to such a decision for his trade.
Kobe Bryant was unhappy with the vision of the Los Angeles Lakers board
In an interview with Dan Patrick on ESPN Radio, Kobe talked about his demand and reason for the trade. “I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?” -he said. He further added- “The Lakers want to move in a different direction in terms of rebuilding. I could have opted to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers or Chicago Bulls instead. Three years ago when I was re-signing they should have told me they wanted to rebuild.”
According to sources, Bryant was quite frustrated with the loss. He also felt that the loss was due to lack of performance and management by the team. However, apart from this, the main reason can be following Shaquille O’Neil’s trade from the Lakers in 2004, when Kobe and the team were trying to rebuild the team again.
“I requested that I be traded to Miami and play with a young fella named Dwyane Wade.” -Shaq
Shaq’s trade request came as a result of a feud between he and Kobe Bryant, which some like Doc Rivers called the “biggest travesty in sports.” pic.twitter.com/mcR3fLdL81
— Bench Insider (@benchinsider) July 14, 2020
Thus, Bryant had two preferences to be traded in the team. The first was for the Chicago Bulls and the second, was for the Los Angeles Clippers. Besides this, he wanted to play for a team who was capable of competing in the championship. However, he did not want to enter a team that already had existing stars like Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, or any other. Instead, he wanted to play with a team from the start even if it was in another city.
However, Bryant’s trade did not happen following which Pal Gasol was traded and together with Kobe they led the Lakers toward a good season. Apart from this, Andrew Bynum also started with his progressive performance in the season. Thus, Bryant will and forever be remembered as the star of the Los Angeles Lakers.
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