How Kobe Bryant was nearly traded to the Detroit Pistons
The NBA is an ocean of unanswerable "what if ...?" inquiries. What would the league look like today if a critical moment from the past went left instead of right upon arriving at a fork in the road?
There are thousands of examples that will melt your brain if you think about them too hard and/or for too long, but one that deserves a closer inspection is Kobe Bryant's near move to the Detroit Pistons.
How did it happen? Here's some intriguing backstory (via CBS Sports):
Another person familiar with how the deal was agreed to said Dumars actually was at home in his office when Kupchak contacted him to agree to the deal that would position the Pistons to remain atop the Eastern Conference and compete for another championship or three. The Pistons were a force at that time, beating the Lakers in the 2004 Finals and in the process of advancing to six straight conference finals. Either way, there's consensus among those involved about what the final deal was: Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell and two first-round picks for Bryant. According to one of the people involved in the talks, Bryant's first choice was Chicago, where he'd try to eclipse Michael Jordan's mark of six championships in his idol's very shadow. But Detroit also was on the list, the person said, on the following conditions: Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace couldn't be included in the deal. "Kobe had signed off on the deal," the person said. "He'd approved two teams: Chicago and Detroit."
If this proposed deal went down, the Lakers would almost certainly have two fewer championships than they currently do, and the Pistons might have at least one more.
That said, dropping a pre-prime Kobe into a new environment could bring disastrous results for said environment. If churned into cocktail ingredients, his talent, drive and ego alone would burn a hole in your stomach. But Bryant's style of play—summed up as: a need to hold the ball and take all the shots—is what sends everything over the edge if there isn't any balance.
Then again, if you're the Pistons, maybe it's eventually worthwhile to appease Bryant's talent at every turn. Trade who he doesn't enjoy being around and acquire skill-sets that heighten his strengths and camouflage his weaknesses.
This is a fun one to think about, and today's league would look nothing like it does if it happened.
