Getty/Kevork Djansezian Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers goes up against Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki in 2009 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.
During Dirk Nowitzki’s prime, the league was full of decorated stars. Like Tim Duncan to Kevin Garnett, Nowitzki was considered amongst the elite tier of big men.
Nowitzki never really got a chance to pair up with another superstar. He did play with Steve Nash earlier in his career, but Nash was not good as he was when he got to Phoenix.
Imagine a world where Kobe Bryant would have suited up for the Dallas Mavericks alongside Dirk Nowitzki. According to owner Mark Cuban, this was almost a done deal.
“I was going back and forth with Dr. Buss, and I forgot who called who,” Cuban tells Bleacher Report’s, Taylor Rooks. “I think he called me, actually, and said, ‘Look, we think we might be parting ways with Kobe.’”
This was the time when the Lakers were going through a dry spell after Shaquille O’Neal was traded, and the Lakers did not have a star to pair with Bryant. During 2007, Bryant was frustrated and requested to be dealt from the Lakers.
“I would like to be traded, yeah,” Bryant said on 1050 ESPN Radio to Stephen A Smith at the time. “Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?”
Cuban claims that he thought Bryant was headed to Texas.
“I thought it was done,” Cuban says. “I thought it was done, yeah. Done. Done. Done. Like, let’s start talking about putting together the trade call.”
However, as we all know, Bryant never left Los Angeles. Cuban says that Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak convinced Bryant to stay.
“I thought [the Kobe trade] was done.” 👀
Mark Cuban gives the back story of how the Mavs were close to trading for the Mamba in the B/R app 🤯
Pairing of Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant Would Have Been Deadly
Mavs fans must have been salivating at the thought of Bryant and Nowitzki playing together. The easy-going Nowitzki and intense Bryant would have probably been a right fit. The German would have allowed Bryant’s tenacity to help shape the rest of the team, and they could have molded the team to contender status year in and year out.
“It would’ve been damn good,” Cuban thinks had Bryant come to Dallas. “Dirk was like, ‘I would’ve traded me for Kobe,’ and I’m like, ’No, I’m not gonna trade you, Dirk, that’s the whole point.”
The Mavs had just gotten to the Finals in 2006, so they were not too far off competing for a ring. Bryant might have been the difference for them in winning a ring or even multiple ones before Cuban and Nowitzki got their first one in 2011.
Kobe Bryant Reneged and the Rest is History
Bryant backed out of his trade demand, and less than a year later, the Lakers somehow stumbled into a trade for All-Star Pau Gasol.
The Lakers immediately returned to the and then won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. Bryant cemented his legacy with the rings without O’Neal, and nobody thought much about his trade demand in 2007.
Mavs fans have to wonder, had Bryant paired up with Nowitzki in Dallas, how many rings could they have won together? Chalk this up into the million hypotheticals that always get mentioned in the NBA.