The Big Ticket

[myersia]

I remember going on Real GM non stop prior to Kobe's trade request. It seemed like everyone was obsessed with KG to LA. I was one of these people. I was not an active poster at the time and stalked the boards everyday to see if KG to LA was going to happen. Now that KG has retired. It has me thinking a "WHAT IF?". I know I hate these kind of threads. But just for fun what do you predict would had happened if KG agreed to come to LA and we pulled it off. I am assuming it would have taken the LO and Bynum that we all did not want to do. But intense Kobe and KG....man that could have been fun. Obviously we would have never gotten Pau and I am not sure how we would have filled the rest of the roster. Thoughts?

[dAdo dA dEvil]

Just the same. We will win a championship. Maybe a back to back too like what we won with LO, Bynum and Pau.

Probably Fish will still be the starting PG and Artest / Ariza on the SF spot. Not sure who will play C. Without Pau, Bynum and LO the only bigs left that I can remember are Mbenga and Powell.

[lake_show]

At this point it's kind of hard imagining him as a Laker, simply because he played so many years with that "other" franchise. But a tandem of Kobe and KG would've been amazing. Still tho I think the defining moment for us as a team would still be the Pau trade. If we could trade for KG and still pull of the Pau trade then we could've easily won many championships. However, adding KG by himself to a roster that included Kwame Brown as it's starting center could've still won a bunch games but would've struggled to win championships (Especially if we take the premise that we give up both Bynum and LO for him). I don't think we get Pau from the Grizzlies at that point. Giving away your best player to a depleted team with Kobe on it is way different than traded your best player to a team (within your conference) that already has 2 of the best players in the league (at that point) on it. If you look at it this way we would've lost (or lost out on) LO, Bynum, and Pau for KG. That would've been half our roster for one. One really really good guy, but still one guy. Kobe and KG might've still won some championships together but it would've taken a few years to get the rest of the roster straightened out. It's fun to imagine the possibility tho.

Loved KG. Would've welcomed him with open arms (as long it was before his stint with the "other" franchise).Crazy to see him retire. Definitely one of the greats.

[stan francisco]

Hire him as defensive big man tutor and motivational coach. Today! Overpay if necessary.

Big fan. Always have been, always will be.

Regarding the trade for KG, I always thought Kobe, KG, Bynum (or Odom) would have been the condition for both Lakers FO and KG or no trade. From the other side, they probably demanded one if not both and then some in return.

KB and KG were meant to play together. Too bad it didn't happen too often. All star snippets was all we got.

[KobeBryant24]

3peat

[TKainZero]

Would have been amazing

Perhaps we wouldn't have gotten pau... But we would have still probably had Marc gasol. Which would create a nice tandem

The absolute intensity the Kobe and kg would have had would probably have been too much.

Also would have loved to see how Phil Jackson would have molded KG.

[TylersLakers]

Got really close for a minute there. I remember when that LA Times article came out saying how Jerry Buss and Glen Taylor talked and decided to make it happen, finally. I was beyond excited. McHale just didn't want him on the Lakers, from what I can recall.

Congrats to KG on the career he had. I always fully respected him. Great competitor and someone you always hoped would win a Championship, if we couldn't. Shame it had to be on the Celtics and against us.

Going to be a weird NBA with no Duncan, Kobe or KG this year. And wow, how hard is it going to be to get tickets to the HOF in 5 years?

[Kilroy]

Not sure KG and Kobe were a great fit at the time... Both were uber-alpha, and that's not going to work 99% of the time...

Gasol was the perfect pairing for Kobe... Fisher and Odom were the perfect glue...

I honestly think Kobe/Gasol were more successful than Kobe/KG would have been... At the very least, I think those 2 would have spent a lot of time not talking to each other.

[PKABOOICU]

KG is my all time favorite player.
The LO+Bynum for KG was all but done at one point. I wasn't all in for that trade because LO was playing great and Bynum was starting to come up. In hindsight, I would have done it for sure. But the Lakers got even better by keeping their core and trading for Pau Gasol at the time.
That said, Kobe+KG was my dream duo. If Kobe+Pau was that good, then KG would have been even better, and I wouldnt be surprised if he retired a Laker.
Lakers would probably have the same amount of rings with KG as they did with Pau, maybe 1 less.

[Landsberger]

I'm not sure Kobe and KG could have coexisted as well as Kobe, LO and Pau. Pau and LO are clearly second fiddle players mentally. Both has issues when asked to be THE GUY. Kobe is a lot of things.... some undeniable.... like his drive and intensity. KG is probably the second most intense player of the just ended era. While his game and stats look great how he would have meshed with Kobe in leadership and on the floor from a chemistry standpoint would be the concern.

While LO had his issues he was also a unique player that complemented Kobe perfectly. Pau was similarly well suited for Kobe's game. I'm not sure a KG/Kobe era would be more successful than what transpired.

[danfantastk32]

Garnett was super-intense....but I don't really think of him as this "alpha" guy. He never seemed to have an issue with Pierce. I don't remember Garnett ever once feeling like the team had to be 'his team' in Boston. I don't think Kobe / Garnett woulda had half the issues that Kobe / Shaq had.

Garnett woulda come...and it would have still be Kobe's team.

The million $$$ question is what would we have traded for him...would we have pulled the Ariza trade, the Pau trade, etc etc? The Wolves didn't exactly get a king's ransom for Garnett....so perhaps Odom and Farmar, and a 1st round pick woulda worked?? Who knows?

If we'd had Garnett....does the Bynum injury never happen??? At some point you gotta stop the dominos...and just say If we'd had Garnett, I think we win the 2 we won, and that first loss to the Celtics as well (Perhaps we'd have gotten that great Kobe/Lebron finals we had all wanted).

[danfantastk32]

Either way.....Garnett was the sh**t. Duncan, Kobe, Garnett.....the era is officially over. Sorry Pierce....you had 1-2 years anyone cared about you....but your not an icon of that generation in any way, shape or form.

Lost 3 greats this year. All were old...and so it doesn't have half the impact it should......but a butt-ton of great games just walked out the building this offseason. Some great games.

[Sofa King]

Kobe's drive and Garnett's intensity on both ends of the court would have been crazy.

But we wouldn't have those epic Lakers v. Celtics Finals, no Gasol, etc.

It worked out for the best.

[cambomvmt]

Kg contract was huge in ref to the cap at the time so wouldve been difficult to sign some one of Odom lvl as the minn trade involved odom and bynum. We wouldve been able to keep Marc i suppose but not sure he would made as big of impact as quickly as Pau did.

[danfantastk32]

Kg contract was huge in ref to the cap at the time so wouldve been difficult to sign some one of Odom lvl as the minn trade involved odom and bynum. We wouldve been able to keep Marc i suppose but not sure he would made as big of impact as quickly as Pau did.

That's true. Good point. Kobe and Garnett woulda been about 70-75% of the salary right there. That would have made things incredibly complicated.

[Jedi32]

Love KG but I wouldn't trade those 2009/10 teams for anyone. Congrats to KG on a great career though.