The summer of 2007 was a scary and dispirited time for the Los Angeles Lakers.
They were deeply mired in mediocrity with seemingly no way out, and after losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns for the second year in a row, Kobe Bryant went off.
He infamously demanded a trade, and with just two years to go before he could opt out of his contract and become a free agent, it looked like the beginning of the end of the Lakers as millions had come to know them over the years.
Once owner Dr. Jerry Buss reluctantly agreed to see what he could get for the Black Mamba, some offers reportedly started coming in, and one was from Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban talked about the process of trying to trade for Bryant in an interview with Bleacher Report.
“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