Kobe Bean Bryant spent all 20 years of his career with the Purple and Gold. Achieving great success with the franchise, Bryant etched his name into the history books and made sure that the world would remember him even well after his career was over.
But did you know that Bryant nearly became a Maverick in 2007? In an exclusive interview with Bleacher Repor’s Taylor Rooks, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revealed how close his team was to securing Kobe that year.
“Yeah, I thought it was done. So I was on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and we practiced a lot, like 7-8 hours a day. I was going back and forth with Dr. Buss and he called me and said ‘look, we think we might be parting ways with Kobe.’ I remember it vividly because there was a PA named Elvis and he was Kobe, Kobe, Kobe all the time. So it started to happen and I started telling him about it. And that was the kiss of death. Because the minute I told Elvis, it all fell apart.”
When pressed for some more details on how negotiations fell apart, Cuban continued telling the story.
“Mitch Kupchak talked Kobe into staying. It was just like DeAndre. When a guy that’s key to your team wants to leave, you’re gonna do everything you can to keep him.”
“I thought [the Kobe trade] was done.” 👀
Mark Cuban gives the back story of how the Mavs were close to trading for the Mamba in the B/R app 🤯
📳 https://t.co/03ruOImHHY pic.twitter.com/Bmx4VCBqGa
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 16, 2022
Unless you’re new to the NBA scene, you probably already know of Kobe’s infamous trade request in 2007. After a frustrating season in L.A., Bryant lost faith in the front office and was looking to go somewhere he could compete and win.
Even Dirk Nowitzki was on board at the time, who recognized he would likely have to be involved in a deal.
Of course, the Lakers were able to smooth things over, and Bryant went on to earn two more championships before his retirement years later. Had he joined Dallas like so many thought he would, who knows how differently things would have played out?
