Kobe Bryant is the ultimate personification of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. This is exactly why it's contemptuous to even consider Kobe playing for another team in the NBA — even more so for the Lakers' bitter rivals in the Los Angeles Clippers.
As it turns out, however, Bryant actually almost joined the Clippers in 2007. In a recent appearance on the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, none other tan Lakers team owner and president Jeanie Buss revealed that Kobe jumping ship to join the enemy was actually a distinct possibility:
“I never had that conversation with Kobe, but there was a game where he wore Clipper colors,” Buss said (h/t Brad Sullivan of Lakers Daily). “Not even the jersey, he wore the colors. Very subtle. I could see, he loves challenges and that would have been a huge thing, right? So I do think that was something that was very possible.”
Wow. I just can't imagine Bryant in a Clippers uniform. For the Lakers faithful, this would probably be spine-tingling.
We need to put in some context here. In 2007, the Lakers were struggling. We're assuming that Kobe's botched move to the Clippers came prior to the Pau Gasol trade in 2007, and at that time, Bryant had probably grown tired of carrying the Lakers for so many years.
Well, it's a good thing he never left. Just think of what type of impact that move would have had on the legacy of the great Kobe Bryant. He would have still been a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but needless to say, things would have been so very different.
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