How The Mavs Almost Traded For Kobe To Pair With Dirk
"I coulda sworn that we had a deal done for Josh Howard and Jet," said Cuban, flashing back to 2007, when the Mavs were a year removed from an NBA Finals and Kobe was a disgruntled Lakers star. "I was telling all the stagehands at 'Dancing With the Stars' it was done.''
Cuban was at the time part of the celebrity cast of the TV show. Kobe was at the time wondering if he'd ever add to his collection of championship rings, and he himself has talked about having been open to being traded that year.
But, Cuban said, "Then Mitch (GM Kupchak) or (the late owner) Jerry Buss or whoever talked him out of it."
It was all certainly more complicated than that. There had to have been draft picks involved and some LA contractual ballast involved and maybe in the end nobody on the Lakers end would've really pulled the trigger. But Cuban was willing, the idea being that Kobe would be paired with Dirk Nowitzki, and not replacing Dirk. Cuban said Dirk told him that if the Mavs ever got a chance to swap Nowitzki for Bryant, that Cuban should do such a deal. "I was like, 'Dirty, that's not going to happen.''
