Mark Cuban Almost Traded For Kobe Bryant In 2007. Here's What Happened

In an alternate universe, Kobe Bryant would have played for the Dallas Mavericks in the late 2000s, creating a new Western Conference powerhouse and winning the NBA championship earlier than 2011.

That scenario will have to remain a “what if” in our reality. But, as Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban tells it, Black Mamba in a Dallas uniform came quite close to happening.

Appearing on the “Club 520” podcast, the billionaire businessman was asked about the reports that the Mavericks were pursuing Bryant. Cuban, who was the majority owner of the franchise for nearly 24 years, confirmed that he was working on this deal back in 2007. 

Funnily enough, Cuban was competing on “Dancing With the Stars” at that time. During breaks, he said, phone calls with people close to Bryant were taking place. “I would talk to Rob Pelinka, his agent at the time,” Cuban shared. “And I talked to Dr. Buss [Jerry Buss, then-majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers]. He was ready to do it. It was like, two first-round picks, Josh Howard, and Jason Terry for Kobe.”

While a transaction with Dr. Buss’ blessing sounds like a done deal, the proposed Bryant trade ultimately fell through. “We got a call from Rob. Mitch Kupchack [former Lakers GM] had talked Kobe out of it,” Cuban said. He then made a gesture with his fingers and added, “That close.”

To say that this trade would have caused huge ramifications, would be an understatement. Had Bryant left Los Angeles, he might have never formed a brotherly bond with Pau Gasol and the Lakers’ back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010 might have remained a figment of fans’ imagination.

As for the Mavericks, they could have redefined the power structure in the NBA by pairing Bryant with their homegrown superstar Dirk Nowitzki. Instead of the Lakers getting to the NBA Finals in 2008, it could have been the Bryant-Nowitzki duo leading the Mavs against the “Big Three” of the Boston Celtics.

It’s fun to speculate alternate versions of NBA history, but in the end, there’s only one official sequence of events in this league. At this point, Cuban can only look back wistfully at the title squad (or, perhaps, dynasty?) that could have been his.