Mark Cuban says Mavs almost got Kobe in a trade back in '07
Kobe Bryant played his final game in the NBA last night in an epic 60-point performance, leading his team to a win against the Utah Jazz. And while everyone was focused on watching the Los Angeles Lakers great make his dramatic exit, there's one guy who wanted some part of the attention.
According to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Bryant almost became part of the Mavs after the team proposed a trade that would have sent Jason Terry and Josh Howard to LA. In an ESPN report, Cuban said that he could have sworn that the deal almost came to fruition, but it never materialized because anyone in the Lakers front office that time might have been successful in persuading "The Black Mamba" to walk away from it. "Then Mitch (Kupchak) or Jerry Buss or whoever talked him out of it," Cuban said.
For the Mavericks, that same season where they almost had Bryant was one of those they wish to forget. After reaching the NBA Finals the season before, they again succeeded the next season, winning 67 games. As the No.1 seed in the first round, they were upset by the Golden State Warriors, the eight seed.
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If the deal did materialize, who would have thought that a Kobe Bryant could have been a teammate with another great, Dirk Nowitzki. Even the thought of it is already quite awesome.
Bryant in the past mentioned that if ever he decided to approve all the trade proposals he received in his career, the most likely destination he'd go is Chicago; he genuinely loved LA, proven by the fact that he vetoed another trade proposal that would have sent him packing for the Detroit Pistons in exchange for the top two players at that point – Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton.
Although Bryant himself confirmed a proposed deal with the Pistons way back, he never did mention anything about the Mavs, especially the trade Cuban claimed.
