Bryant asks for trade, says Buss masterminded trading O'Neal

[Walter Cronkite]

Saying that the Lakers lied to him about rebuilding plans, Kobe Bryant asked Wednesday to be traded on Stephen A. Smith's ESPN Radio show. Bryant said nothing the Lakers say will change his mind.

The story lines that have engulfed the Los Angeles Lakers in the last week hit a crescendo Wednesday when Kobe Bryant said he would welcome a trade.

"I would like to be traded, yeah," Bryant said on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York. "Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there's no other alternative, you know?"

Bryant, interviewed by Stephen A. Smith, was asked if there was anything the Lakers could do to change his mind.

"No," Bryant said. "I just want them to do the right thing."

"[The Lakers] obviously want to move in a different direction in terms of rebuilding," Bryant said, adding he could have opted to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers or Chicago Bulls instead. "Three years ago when I was re-signing they should have told me they wanted to rebuild."

Asked if he had any preference for a trade destination, he said "At this point I'll go play on Pluto."

Bryant earned $17.72 million last season and is owed $88.6 million over the next four years. He can terminate his contract following the 2008-09 season -- a move that would leave $47.8 million on the table.

By requesting a trade, Bryant would obviously waive his no-trade clause, but he has a trade clause in his contract that is believed to add about $13 million to his total contract value, a cost to be absorbed by any team that acquires him.

"We are aware of the media reports. However, Kobe has not told us directly that he wants to be traded," Lakers owner Jerry Buss said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "We have made it very clear that we are building our team around Kobe and that we intend for him to be a Laker his entire career.

"We will speak directly to Kobe and until we do that, we will not comment publicly about this."

Earlier in the day, Bryant said Buss masterminded the trade of Shaquille O'Neal -- and Shaq later confirmed Kobe's account.

The issues between Bryant and the Lakers have reached a boil, beginning with Bryant voicing his displeasure with the club's direction, his suggestion that Jerry West should return to fix things, West's statement that he has no intention of undermining GM/good friend Mitch Kupchak, and, unrelated but bizarre in its timing, Buss' arrest early Tuesday for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Bryant was left "beyond furious" by a report in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times that read, "as a Lakers insider notes, it was Bryant's insistence on getting away from Shaquille O'Neal that got them in this mess."

O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat after the 2003-04 season, and the long-held belief has been that the deteriorating relationship between O'Neal and Bryant was a factor in O'Neal's departure.

In response to the Times' story, Bryant, interviewed by Smith for a Philadelphia Inquirer column, said Buss "called a meeting with me after he spoke with Jim Gray [of ESPN] to talk with him about Shaq's future in the middle of the 2004 season.

"He met with me at the Four Seasons Hotel here [in Newport Beach, Calif.] across from Fashion Island, which is now the Island Hotel," Bryant told Smith. "I went up to his penthouse suite. [Buss] looks me dead in the face and says: 'Kobe, I am not going to re-sign Shaq. I am not about to pay him $30 million a year or $80 million over three years. No way in hell. I feel like he's getting older. His body is breaking down, and I don't want to pay that money to him when I can get value for him right now rather than wait.

"This is my decision. It's independent of you. My mind is made up. It doesn't matter to me what you do in free agency because I do not want to pay [Shaq], period.'"

"Dr. Buss said that," Bryant told Smith. "And I haven't said anything for years because I've always felt like folks were just looking to create controversy. Now I know. I realize what extent [the Lakers] will go to, to cover themselves."

Reached afterward, O'Neal told Smith that he believed his former teammate to be beyond reproach.

"I believe Kobe 100 percent," O'Neal said when reached in Los Angeles. "Absolutely. There's no doubt in my mind Kobe is telling the truth. I believe him a thousand percent.

"I would have respected Dr. Buss more as a man if he would have told me that himself, because I know he said it. But he didn't [tell me]. He never said a damn word to me."

Buss was unavailable for comment Tuesday, as was Kupchak. Buss, 74, was booked early Tuesday for investigation of drunken driving and driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or above.

The Lakers missed the playoffs in the first season after O'Neal was dealt for Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first-round pick, and have been eliminated in the first round the last two seasons. O'Neal and the Heat won the NBA championship last season.

"Sure, Shaq and I had our issues," Bryant told Smith. "So what! We always did and we won three titles. That doesn't change what was told to me. It doesn't change the fact I never, ever, said to get rid of him."

While Bryant re-signed for $136 million for seven years the day after O'Neal was traded, he has pushed for trades -- he wanted Carlos Boozer, then Jason Kidd, then Ron Artest -- that the Lakers were unable to pull off. Meanwhile, Odom has undergone shoulder surgery but is expected to be ready for training camp in October; Kwame Brown has undergone reconstructive surgery on his left ankle and might not be ready for the start of camp.

And now Bryant, who reportedly has made it clear to the Lakers that he may see fit to terminate his contract in two years, has told Smith he won't continue to wait for Buss to build the roster around him.

"Promises made to make this team better have not been kept," Bryant told Smith. "So where does that leave me?"

Source: ESPN.com

[The Question]

If Jerry Buss had any brains in his head, he would trade Kobe now to get maximum value for him. All Kobe wants is at least one other player that is worth a damn to play ball with. Mitch Kupchak and Buss have destroyed the Lakers by going after underachievers like Kwame Brown and drafting under-developed players like Andrew Bynum. Kobe is correct in this situation. If Buss trades him now, he could get at least 3-4 players and a draft pick for Kobe. Possible Suiters: Minnesota (KG & Kobe = championship), or Memphis (Pau Gasol & Kobe = championship). The Knicks? Seriously, who would want to jump onto that sinking ship? Kobe deserves better than the current Lakers team.

[Gambit]

Oh man... it's the apocalypse all over again in Lakerland. The Lakers used to be the gold standard of how to run an NBA franchise. For decades the city of Los Angeles endeared the Buss family and the Lakers with resilient faith as we pledged our hearts to the one team in town that had a constant vision and the drive to follow it. That team is gone. The Los Angeles Lakers as we knew them will never be again. Not with this owner. Not with this regime. Less 5 years ago we had the two best players in the NBA and exuded a dynastic aura of invinciblity.

With Shaq and Kobe forming the greatest inside-outside combo in history pundits wondered how any other team could beat them. The first break in the dam was the Shaq trade. Regardless of who's to blame and who said what the bottom line is that the Lakers front office, once the tightest run ship in the business, was overwhelmed and essentially allowed a franchise meltdown of epic proportions. This is the same franchise that traded for Kareem, finessed the James Worthy draft pick, plucked Shaq from Orlando, and traded for the skinny 17 year-old from suburban Philly. The Lakers weren't accustomed being on the wrong end of history. Shaq leaving was devastating, but at least we still had Kobe. Now what? Say what you want about Kobe, he's still the best player on the planet. He's the face of the Lakers -- he has his place alongside the greats of Laker lore: West, Baylor, Wilt, Kareem, Goodrich, Worthy, Magic -- and now he wants out because he feels betrayed by the Lakers.

Some might question the truth of Kobe's words, but no one in the Lakers front office has yet to come out and set the record straight. When they do, it might be too late. If the Lakers trade Kobe they better be prepared for irrelevancy. This is LA. When our teams break our hearts we don't sit around and mope like other cities. We pick ourselves up and do something else as there's a plethora things to do in LA besides waste money and emotion on a rudderless team.

[AndySMC]

Out of the East teams, only a few are even remote possibilities:

Knicks, Hawks, Bulls, Pistons, Heat, Wizards.

The 76ers would be even weaker than the current lakers after a Kobe trade. The Celtics, Bobcats and most of the rest are just too horrible to have a chance at a title soon. Cavs and others could maybe do it, but not with any practical trade.

So of those five which are even somewhat possible?

Pistons don't need him and a trade probably isn't possible.

Heat would be too absurd and the heat would have to give up D-Wade, which they won't.

Hawks could possibly put a decent team together. However, would Kobe want to play in atlanta? Doubt it. And more importantly, would the Lakers want to trade the biggest NBA star for a bunch of nobodies? No. It would drive their fans away. Lakers fans need at least one big name.

Bulls could maybe do it, but only if they sent Ben Wallace and several other players. This could possibly work, but the trade would be very hard to work out money wise and I'm not sure the Bulls would risk losing what (looks like) a really great chemistry. Kobe would be a big gamble for a franchise that looks like it could make the east finals next year.

So I say that the Knicks and the Wizards are the two best options... and I think the Knicks are the better option of the two for all parties. They have lots of talent that would help out the Lakers and Kobe would love the NYC stage.

[Kellie-Girl]

The Lakers should have gotten rid of this rotten apple and kept Shaq... players like Shak come along once every decade (if you are lucky) Shaq already won another championship but the Lakers with Kobe Bryant can't even make it past the first round... Shaq made him.... no question that Shaq is getting the last laugh!