Kobe to the Mavs? Not Likely....
One of the stories to follow this season is the Kobe trade watch. Two teams that are commonly discussed concerning a Kobe trade are the Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls. However, Mavericks owner and dancing extraordinaire Mark Cuban has officially iterated that he won't trade Dirk for Kobe, nor will he blow his team up to acquire #24.
In short, this means there is no way Kobe will become a Mav. I don't know what he could offer the Lakers if Dirk is off the table. Maybe Josh Howard and Jason Terry and an expiring contract? But wouldn't that constitute as blowing up the entire team? Who knows, since Jerry West left you can never underestimate the intelligence of the Lakers front office. After all, this team traded Shaq for less, but I can't see Dr. Buss making the same mistake twice. In short, with Cuban's refusal to make key moves for Bryant, there's little to no chance that we'll see Kobe shipped to Dallas.
Will something materialize with Chicago? Will Jim Paxson have the stones to shake things up for Kobe? Probably not, since the Lakers would demands young stars like Deng or Gordon, personnel who Paxson has previously said are "off the table" concerning any trade deals. We shall see... if the Lakers get off to a poor start this season, will Kobe start pouting and stepping up the trade rhetoric? Or might the Lakers get off to a hot start, quieting such demands?