James did fine in Miami, but he also wanted no part of, “Yeah, but Jordan won six titles.’ Free agents won’t say it; but they’re scared of the past.
Bring it on, Kobe demanded.
So the teams did start talking trade.
There really was no chance since Buss wasn’t giving up his premier attraction. Basketball was nice; stars were better. But Jackson appealed to Buss. Jackson said they owed Bryant at least to listen, to at least demonstrate to Bryant they respected him and what he did for the franchise. They weren’t trading him, but they didn’t have to tell him that. OK, go ahead, Buss said.
The Bulls couldn’t believe this. Kobe Bryant wants to play for us?
So they went along.
The Bulls had started to come along well and were a Scott Skiles best 49-33 that season and swept the defending champion Heat and Shaq in the first round. Kobe loved that.
The best the Bulls had were Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Wallace and Tyrus Thomas.
An aside: That team won 49 games? And Skiles wasn’t Coach of the Year?
The Bulls liked their guys, but they knew they’d gone about as far as they could. Actually, it wouldn’t last much longer as Skiles would be fired that December, the Bulls would plummet to 33 wins and then get lucky in the lottery and get Derrick Rose. Imagine Kobe in that 33-win season.
Anyway, that was the point. If the Bulls gave up too much the Bulls would have less talent than the Lakers’ team Kobe wanted to leave because they weren’t good enough. But try convincing Kobe. He felt Jordan didn’t win with much.
So proposals were exchanged. The Lakers were somewhat on the periphery as Kobe’s agent kept coming up with suggestions for the Bulls. The Bulls would send Deng, Gordon, Wallace. No, the Lakers didn’t want Wallace; Kobe wanted Deng to stay. Then the Lakers said they wanted Ron Artest, who had become an All-Star, all-NBA and Defensive Player of the Year in Sacramento, and Hinrich. The Kings saw what the Bulls had seen earlier and knew Artest was ready to blow again. They wanted first round picks, including the one that would become Rose. The Bulls didn’t have enough firsts. And so it went amidst media hysterics for a while and some national reports that the deal was done, that Kobe never would play again for the Lakers.
Eventually, Kobe calmed down and started the season, and a few months later the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol and were on the way.
https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/samsmith/story-kobe-bryant-and-bulls
