Kobe Bryant Was Extremely Close To Being Traded To The Detroit Pistons In 2007

On today's Pardon My Take... ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI! The Senior NBA Insider for ESPN joined Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter in-studio for today's show to discuss his journalism career, the upcoming draft, who will take the Lakers job and the famous Rico Bosco tweet. 

Woj came to the show prepared with a ton of great stories, but one that stood out included the one and only Kobe Bryant. Obviously, it is very rare to only play for one team throughout your professional sports career, but Kobe managed to stay with the Lakers from start to finish.

However, that was very close to not becoming reality. In fact, Kobe Bryant was very close to being traded to the Detroit Pistons back in 2007. Woj explained that chain of events on today's show...

If this deal was finalized, it obviously would have turned the NBA upside down. Kobe would be off to the Eastern Conference, he wouldn't have won those titles in LA in 2009 and 2010, and who knows how his battles in the same division as a young LeBron would have went?

Looking back, it would have been so, so weird to see Kobe Bryant in a uniform other than the Lakers. We saw the same thing with Derek Jeter and the Yankees. But it is very interesting to hear Woj talk about the fact that this was a done deal, until Kobe changed his mind at the last second. A "What If?" for the ages...

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