Lakers legend Kobe Bryant once asked to be traded in the 2007 offseason after another playoff disappointment against the Suns.
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If the names of Chris Mihm and Smush Parker mean something to you, you were probably a Lakers fan in the mid-00s. These were 2 of the most unremarkable players to ever share the court with Kobe Bryant. The trouble was, they were on the same team.
The same team as the Black Mamba, who’d won 2 scoring titles and 3 NBA titles by that point. Mihm saw regular rotation minutes at the power forward/center positions, while Smush Parker was Kobe’s starting point guard.
On the other hand, you’re probably a casual fan if you haven’t heard of Amar’e Stoudemire. Or Steve Nash. Or Shawn Marion and Raja Bell. These were the Suns players who’d inflicted a 4-1 series defeat on the Lakers that April.
Anyone who loved good basketball could see that Kobe Bryant was far and away the world’s best player. But they could also see that he was stuck with teammates who clearly wouldn’t win playoff games in the NBA.
It only seemed a matter of time before Bryant caved and forced a move away from Los Angeles. After all, he was 29, at the peak of his career, and unwilling to waste it on a middling team.
Kobe Bryant submitted a trade request from the Lakers on a radio show in 2007, but walked it back
Kobe Bryant went on an ESPN radio show during the offseason to push for a trade away from the Lakers. He laid it out as non-confrontationally as he could muster the composure to:
“I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?”
“I just want them to do the right thing.”
The Lakers reportedly were working on getting a sizeable haul from the Chicago Bulls at the time. Rumors go as far as to say that they would’ve landed Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Ben Wallace.
This would’ve been a sizeable dent in the Bulls’ chances at an NBA title, even with Kobe Bryant. It was probably for the best for it to fall through for all parties concerned.
