Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant were playing pickup basketball in a UCLA gym last summer, a couple of frustrated NBA stars trying to sweat away the memory of a disappointing season.
Talk soon turned to trades.
Bryant had lashed out at Lakers management for assembling a team that hadn't won a playoff series in three years. The Celtics had gone four years, and Pierce worried he might become the trade bait that kick-starts the rebuilding process.
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