Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers understandably struggled to regain dominance when Shaquille O'Neal left for the Miami Heat in 2004. After missing the playoffs in 2005, LA never managed to get past the first round in the next two consecutive seasons.
Bryant almost gave up on the Lakers after a series of disappointments. The situation reached a crescendo in 2007 when Kobe himself publicly demanded to be traded. According to "Black Mamba," he was so frustrated with how things had been playing out despite his efforts that he was open to joining just about any team but the Lakers.
"I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion, there's no other alternative, you know?," Bryant said at the time. "[The Lakers] obviously want to move in a different direction in terms of rebuilding," adding he could have opted to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers or Chicago Bulls instead.
"Three years ago when I was re-signing they should have told me they wanted to rebuild. At this point, I'll go play on Pluto," he pointed out.
The Lakers finally gave Kobe a formidable co-star
Despite Bryant's profound interest in leaving the Lakers, he still went on to play for the "Purple and Gold" in the 2007-08 season. When the future Hall of Famer thought he was up for another devastating campaign, the Lakers pulled off a game-changing trade on the first day of February.
On that day, the Lakers closed a multi-player deal that sent All-Star big man Pau Gasol to LA. Upon learning about Gasol's arrival, Bryant's dejection was swiftly replaced with excitement. He immediately welcomed Pau and talked about the shared mentality they should have right off the bat: winning a championship.
"[Bryant] He wanted to stop by in my room and kind of talk to me and welcome me to the team," Gasol once recalled. "I told him like 'hey, okay, it's gonna be late, like 1:30 or so, so you don't have to. We can wait until tomorrow if you want.' He was like 'no, no, no. I'm coming. I'm coming.' So he came; obviously, I was happily surprised, and he told me, 'hey, I'm very happy that you're here, very excited, this is great, but now let's go win a championship."
Kobe and Pau won two titles for LA
Gasol's impact on the Lakers was quickly felt. He registered 24 points and 12 rebounds in his Lakers debut and helped the team win 25 of the remaining 34 games in the season to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West.
Though the Lakers failed to win the title that year at the hands of the Boston Celtics, Kobe and Pau led the charge, and LA won back-to-back NBA championships after that. Looking back, history would've been altered had Bryant not given the Lakers another shot.
Related: "I took a lot of the blame for a lot of the stuff they were doing” - When Kobe Bryant confronted the Lakers management for their poor decision-making
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