Toward the end of his career, Kobe Bryant was playing for a Lakers team with no hope of making a title run. In an ongoing effort to even the odds, Bryant made a last-ditch effort to build a contender and win one more championship.
“Bryant had tried to cajole the Lakers into fielding better teams around him in his final few seasons in L.A., recruiting free agent forward LaMarcus Aldridge, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, and encouraging a trade for Sacramento Kings star DeMarcus Cousins,” wrote ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
After leading the Lakers to back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010, Kobe saw his team fall apart from the inside out, slowly losing the people who made them so great. By the 2015 offseason, the Lakers were in a desperate situation coming off one of their worst seasons in franchise history.
Kobe, who was about to turn 37 in August, still had the same competitive spirit that made him so famous. He was dying for his team to make moves and even called out his own teammates for being tradeable “bums” before the deadline.
Bryant knew that his career was coming to an end and that the opportunity to win another title would soon be lost forever. That looming reality pushed Bryant to take measures into his own hands and try his luck at building a superteam and adding another ring to his collection.
His first call was likely to his fellow superstar and friend, Dwyane Wade. Wade was also nearing the end of his career and he was up for free agency after a few uneventful seasons with the Heat. Ultimately, Bryant could not convince Wade to join him on the Lakers but they would have formed a powerful veteran duo with Wade averaging 19.0 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game on 45.6% shooting in the 2015-16 campaign.
LaMarcus Aldridge was arguably one of the biggest names in free agency back in 2015 and after a stellar career with the Trail Blazers, he signed with the Spurs on a four-year, $84.1 million deal. Aldridge was still in his prime at this point and the Lakers could have shifted their offense to focus on him as Bryant and Wade played out their final days.
The final piece of the puzzle was DeMarcus Cousins. Before injuries ravaged his career, Cousins was one of the best big men in the game and he would have been the best player on a Lakers team with Kobe and Wade past their primes. DeMarcus averaged 24.1 points for the Kings in 2015 and his game would have gone up to another level alongside brilliant playmakers like Kobe Bryant and Wade Wade.
It’s hard to say if Kobe wanted to bring them separately or have them all take pay cuts to sign together, but he obviously had some big ambitions for his NBA send-off. The fans and media were happy to oblige with his retirement tour… but the Lakers were never able to materialize this hypothetical superteam.
In fact, the Lakers finished Kobe’s career as one of the worst teams in the NBA. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying on Kobe’s part that they couldn’t compete. He gave his all until the very end, both on the court and off the court with his aggressive recruiting efforts.
As a 5x champion, former MVP, and 18x All-Star, Kobe didn’t need any more validation for his basketball career. And while the ending was not what he had hoped for, Kobe’s legacy is that of a true champion for all that he was able to accomplish in a Lakers uniform.
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