“No, Bro.”

That was the answer Kobe Bryant gave Stephen A. Smith in 2007 when Smith asked him “Is there anything the LA Lakers can do to get you to remain with the organization?”  In Kobe’s mind, he was out the door but few hoops fans really thought Kobe was going to end up in another city.  With that said, it was fun to think about what if trades and one of the most popular hypothetical trades was Kobe going to Houston and teaming up with Yao Ming for Tracy McGrady.  This trade would not only give the Lakers a player that could put up the points Kobe could but it would allow them to get a marketable superstar athlete in return.

When T-Mac heard the story of the Lakers possibly trading Kobe he said, “If they trade Kobe, man, that’s really a sad story. He’s the great player in our league. He has accomplished so much out there for them; just hate to see something like that end.”

That almost end with the Lakers and the ending of Shaq’s time in LA is something T-Mac doesn’t believe would have happened if he was in Kobe’s place. Tracy McGrady was on the Jay Mohr Radio Show earlier this week and talked about how things would have been different if he was Shaq’s teammate.

“We would have had a great run. I don’t know how many but, I know it would have never ended like it did with he and Kobe. I have a great relationship with Shaq. We would have never clashed heads like that. Two Alpha dogs going at there will always be (something going on).”

As fun as it is to think about how many championships he could have won with Shaq, I rather think about how many he could have won against Shaq if Tim Duncan would have signed with T-Mac and the Orlando Magic in 2000 and Grant Hill would have stayed healthy.

Source: Larry Brown Sports