The end of Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Fame shooting guard Kobe Bryant's storied run with LA was marked almost as much but a trade that didn't happen as it was by the transactions that did.
During the 2011 playoffs, Los Angeles had been swept out of the Western Conference semifinals by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks. That loss ended the team's run of three straight NBA Finals appearances (and two straight wins). In the wake of that definitive defeat, longtime head coach Phil Jackson stepped down.
A roster shakeup was clearly needed. In the build-up to the subsequent 66-game, lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, LA made a blockbuster trade to extend Bryant's championship window.
Accordingly, team president/GM Mitch Kupchak orchestrated an epic three-team deal with the then-New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets that would ship out Bryant's two best co-stars, big men Pau Gasol (to Houston) and Lamar Odom (to New Orleans), in exchange for then-26-year-old Hornets All-NBA point guard Chris Paul.
League commissioner David Stern, who at the time technically owned the Hornets while the NBA waited for a new owner, ultimately scuttled the deal. A furious Odom, feeling shafted, demanded to be dealt anyway, and ultimately would up with the defending champs in Dallas. Under new head coach Mike Brown, the Lakers once again made it to the Western Conference semis during those playoffs, but would never again advance any further than that during Bryant's career.
In a new conversation on The Pivot podcast, with hosts Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder, Paul shed some light on the botched trade.
"It's crazy how all that stuff went down, man," Paul said. "How the GM called [presumably a reference to Kupchak], and me and Kobe got on the phone. We talked and a phone call came through that the trade was nixed. I went to go eat at a restaurant called Z's, that's where I was... We thought the trade was happening, it didn't. Kob is just special. And it's different, I think I was so excited about it... Me and Kob [were] just wired the same. His talent was outrageous but when we played against each other, we [were] about to fight just about every time, 'cause we [were] both on that same energy... Had we got a chance to play together, I think it could have been fun."
"I hate that that opportunity didn't get to happen... especially at that point in my career," Paul added. "I always knew how good Kobe was, even at catch-and-shoot, but he never got a chance to show that part of his game. But had we [gotten] a chance to play together, I think it could've been fun."
Paul, a 12-time All-Star, has enjoyed a solid career even without donning the purple and gold. He was ultimately flipped to the other Los Angeles NBA franchise, the Clippers, that offseason.
This year, a still-competitive 38-year-old Paul faces an uncertain future with his current team, the Phoenix Suns, and there's a chance he could finally, belatedly, wind up a Laker once again, alongside longtime buddy LeBron James.
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