USA TODAY Sports[/caption]According to a report by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, Kobe Bryant was very close to becoming a member of the Detroit Pistons back in 2007.
At the time, the Los Angeles Lakers were a mess and Bryant was on one of his "get me out of here" rants. The late Jerry Buss had a meeting with Bryant at his home and was informed that a deal was on the table.
Bryant would have had to waive his no-trade clause and Detroit wasn't on his list of destinations. The reported deal would've had Tayshaun Prince, Amir Johnson, Richard Hamilton and a first-round pick going to Los Angeles for the Black Mamba. The Pistons denied the rumors at the time.
Bryant says that he wouldn't have left the Lakers for anywhere.
“It hit me that I didn’t really want to walk out on Dr. Buss,” Bryant said Monday, adding it probably wouldn’t have mattered if it was Chicago, Dallas or New York either.
It would've been interesting, but I don't think Bryant would've stayed in Detroit too long. Not a knock on the city, but I just couldn't see Bryant meshing well with what the team had at the time. Also what would have Bryant done once he hit free agency? We can all play the "what-if" game with that scenario.
But what could've been...
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