Kobe Bryant met Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss in Barcelona recently and reiterated his wish to be traded. A video has also surfaced which shows Bryant badmouthing the Lakers, GM Mitch Kupchak and even center Andrew Bynum in a profanity-laced tirade.
This situation has gone from bad to worse. Apparently, the team is trying to go through back channels to see if there is any way to repair the relationship with the disgruntled superstar. It doesn’t appear that they are having much luck.
So what do the Lakers do? Many pundits don’t believe that they’ll trade him, but there seems to be a growing feeling amongst GMs that they might. If the team refuses to move him, Kobe has the ability to make life hell for the foreseeable future.
For a while, it looked like Kobe just wanted the team to acquire some help. There are two personnel moves that keep popping up:
The first is a trade for Jermaine O’Neal. Reportedly, the talks with the Pacers have stalled because the Lakers do not want to give up Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown for O’Neal and Troy Murphy. Some reports also have the Lakers including the #19 pick in this year’s draft. This move would put the Lakers’ payroll at $61 M in 2007-08 and at $66 M in 2008-09 (not accounting for re-signing Luke Walton, which will probably cost around $5-$6 M per year).
They would be able to use their mid-level exception on someone like Morris Peterson or Matt Barnes, but their best bet would be Charlie Bell, a good defender and shooter that, as a point guard, doesn’t need the rock in his hands to be effective.
This would give them a lineup of Bell, Bryant, Walton, Murphy and O’Neal with Jordan Farmar, Maurice Evans, Vladimir Radmanovic, Brian Cook and Sasha Vujacic as the team’s main reserves. That’s not the most athletic starting lineup, but the Lakers play a methodical style, so it could work. Still, it’s doubtful that that group would reach the Finals.
The second name that keeps popping up is Kevin Garnett. For the first time, the Timberwolves have started to listen to offers for KG because they know he can opt out of his contract next summer and, by keeping him another season, they run the risk of letting him get away without any compensation. They aren’t going to go for an Odom/Bynum deal, so the Lakers only real hope is to work out a three-way trade or wait until next summer and hope that KG does indeed opt out. Assuming the salary cap rises 7% each of the next two seasons (as it did last summer), as their roster stands, they’d have a payroll of about $45 M, leaving around $16 M to sign Garnett. This would give the team a starting lineup of Farmar, Bryant, Odom, KG and Bynum. Farmar probably isn’t the right guy to lead that group, but with Bryant and Garnett on board, I’d bet that Baron Davis or Jason Kidd (both with player options next summer) would be tripping over each other for the chance to sign a mid-level deal and make a run at a ring.
But that’s the best-case scenario, Laker fans. For that plan to work, four things must happen:
1) Minnesota doesn’t trade Garnett to another team before the trade deadline
2) Kobe agrees to stay with the Lakers for another (mediocre) year
3) Garnett opts out of his contract next summer
4) Garnett agrees to join the Lakers
Based on Bryant’s actions the last few weeks, I think #2 is in serious jeopardy. Kobe holds the leverage because he has a no-trade clause in his contract, so the Lakers can’t just ship him anywhere. He has three destinations in mind: Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix. (The Knicks are another possibility because they’re in New York, the only spotlight as bright as Los Angeles.) The Lakers definitely don’t want to send Bryant to a Western Conference team, especially a division foe like Phoenix, so the Chicago deal seems most likely. But would a deal including Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and the #9 pick be enough? (The Bulls would need to send another $10 M in salary to make the trade work, likely in the form of a re-signed P.J. Brown.) It seems like the Lakers need a “star” in return and that Deng doesn’t qualify, though that might be the best offer the Lakers will get.
A couple of other rumors have Bryant heading to the Bulls in a three-way deal involving either Boston or Washington, resulting in Paul Pierce or Gilbert Arenas heading to the Lakers. I like Arenas, but at this point I’d rather have the Deng/Gordon/pick package than Pierce.
Considering all the big names potentially on the move, it should be a very interesting summer. Considering how boring (and poorly-received) the Finals were, at least there is something entertaining going on in the NBA.
