As hard as it may be to imagine, Kobe Bryant was almost a Dallas Maverick at one point in time.

Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban revealed to ESPN's Tim MacMahon that he had a deal done to acquire the “Black Mamba” in exchange for Josh Howard and Jason Terry:

“I could have sworn that we had a deal done for Josh Howard and Jet (Jason Terry). I was telling all the stagehands at ‘Dancing With the Stars' it was done,” said Cuban, who was on the hit TV show at the time.”

Cuban also cited the two people who ultimately shot down the deal:

“Then (Lakers executives) Mitch (Kupchak) or Jerry Buss or whoever talked him out of it. It would have been different. That's all I can say. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.”

Remember, the Los Angles Lakers were coming off their second consecutive season of being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Phoenix Suns. This was before the Lakers had emerged as a true NBA Finals threat when they re-signed Derek Fisher and acquired Pau Gasol through trade midway through the 2007-08 season.

RELATED: Lakers Tried To Trade Kobe Bryant For LeBron James In 2007

dirk nowitzki kobe bryant
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/US PRESSWIRE

This was also around the time Bryant was infamously recorded telling Lakers management to trade Andrew Bynum. In other words, it was a rocky time for the Lakers.

Had Dirk Nowitzki and Bryant teamed up in Dallas, it's hard to put a ceiling on just how much team success they would have attained as two of the greatest scorers of all time.