The Los Angeles Lakers’ trade for Pau Gasol allowed Kobe Bryant to win his fourth and fifth championships with the team. After that collaboration began to wane, the Lakers looked for fresh approaches to bolster their roster and award Kobe his sixth (and maybe additional) championship.
There was the infamous trade involving Chris Paul, which was approved by the league but later vetoed. That is still one of the biggest “what-ifs” in Lakers history, with enormous implications for the NBA.
The Lakers finally decided to trade for Dwight Howard, but that deal did not go at all as expected. However, the Lakers were on the verge of making a deal for a different future before that trade.
Carmelo Anthony was nearly traded to the Lakers to team with Kobe Bryant
Remember that we are discussing the best Carmelo Anthony of all time. At the age of just 26, Melo was traded during the 2010–11 season. Two seasons following the trade, Melo had his best year to date and placed second in the MVP voting.
In Los Angeles, a Melo-Kobe collaboration would have been incredible. Given how well-known both players were scorers, there most likely would have been some adjustment time, but Kobe would have found a way to make it work. Melo would have kept his end of the bargain and performed like he did in the Olympics, but Kobe brought out the best in everyone he played with.
Had this occurred, the league would have been on a collision course for the NBA Finals that every
In all likelihood, the Dallas Mavericks would not have swept the Lakers team that featured Kobe and Melo in the postseason. Although the Mavericks team is deserving of a great deal of respect, Melo’s addition to that series would have made all the difference.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder the next season, the same was true. With Melo in the mix, that Thunder team’s path to the Finals is likely unlikely. They had to overcome the Lakers to get there. We would have witnessed at least two Lakers-Heat series and two of the greatest NBA Finals in history if this trade had actually gone through.
The San Antonio Spurs had great seasons in 2013 and 2014, but by then, Kobe would have been older and might have sustained the same injury. Perhaps, though, he could have maintained his health and advanced to one or more NBA Finals if he hadn’t had to bear such a heavy load.
In any case, the NBA was cheated out of something truly exceptional by the Denver Nuggets’ desire to keep Carmelo Anthony out of the Western Conference. Although not quite as absurd as the CP3 trade, it is quite similar.
