News / Sports
Kobe Bryant Demands Trade from Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant told 1050 ESPN Radio in New York “I would like to be traded, yeah, tough as it is to come to that conclusion there's no other alternative, you know?”
Claiming that the Lakers had lied to him about plans to improve the team and a Bryant told NBA analyst Steven A. Smith “Promises made to make this team better have not been kept, so where does that leave me?” Smith then asked Bryant if there was anything the Lakers could do to rectify the situation and the NBA’s leading scorer replied “no, I just want them to do the right thing.”
Bryant was enraged by a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Times that said “as a Lakers insider notes, it was Bryant's insistence on getting away from Shaquille O'Neal that got them in this mess.” Responding to the insinuation that he insisted on LA trading Shaq the life-long Laker recounted a meeting he had with team owner Jerry Buss in which Buss told him, “This is my decision. It's independent of you. My mind is made up. It doesn't matter to me what you do in free agency because I do not want to pay [Shaquille O’Neal], period.”
Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat following the 2003-04 season and the general belief was that Bryant had demanded the move. Bryant said he remained quite about the whole affair despite taking the heat for the controversial trade but on Wednesday he opened up, saying “I haven't said anything for years because I've always felt like folks were just looking to create controversy. Now I know. I realize what extent [the Lakers] will go to, to cover themselves.”
Now Bryant wants out of LA despite the fact he signed a seven-year $136 million contract the day after O’Neal was traded.
