Kobe Bryant News L.A. Lakers

Is Bryant long for L.A.?

In the NBA, the grapevine is a living, breathing thing. And it's fuelled almost entirely by hot air.

It's media reporters talking to players, scouts, assistant coaches and executives - sometimes even other reporters.

Almost always it means nothing. It's an end to itself. It provides everyone attached to the NBA something to talk about and gossip about and speculate about until something real happens.

But then an owner speaks. And when an owner talks of the possibility of a player being moved, the grapevine stops smoking and catches fire.

Think of Philadelphia 76ers owner Ed Snider acknowledging that the time had come for Allen Iverson to go. Within weeks, the Answer was in snowy Denver.

Think of Glen Taylor of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who told his staff that it was time to trade Kevin Garnett after years of saying the opposite. Now, Al Jefferson is the man in Minnesota and Garnett is restoring the lustre to the Boston Celtics.

And now think of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who said last week he "would certainly listen" to offers for his star, Kobe Bryant.

To refresh: Last June, Kobe Bryant made it known that he'd had it. He wanted out from under the Los Angeles Lakers and ideally a passport to the Eastern Conference, where he'd have a better chance of making his way to the NBA final for the first time since Shaquille O'Neal left for the Miami Heat.

Why now? In part, it was a cold assessment that Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had built the team around him with hams in his fists. In part, it was because Kobe Bryant learned the team had given out mixed messages when he was a free agent in the summer of 2004. The Los Angeles Lakers told him they planned to win right away, while at the same time sending Phil Jackson packing, telling the coach the team was in a rebuilding phase.

And Kobe Bryant also learned that the trade that sent O'Neal to Florida that same summer was Buss's call from the outset, even though Kobe Bryant has been routinely labelled as the bad guy for driving the Friendly Giant out of Hollywood.

All this new information put Kobe Bryant over the edge, captured memorably on a Los Angeles Lakers fan's video at a Los Angeles shopping mall, when Kobe Bryant told his fans to "Get a Bulls jersey" and added, "Dr. Buss is an idiot."

That was in June, and Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers had been almost silent since, the grapevine cooling, the smoke dissipating.

As Kobe Bryant reported to training camp as scheduled, nothing seemed amiss.

But Buss picked his moment. Maybe it was because he wasn't happy that a player who happily takes $20-million (U.S.) of his money every year called him an idiot. Maybe it was because a player he'd backed to the hilt while he was flying back and forth to Colorado for court appearances on sexual assault charges had so suddenly shifted loyalties.

But after refusing to accept even the possibility that Kobe Bryant might be traded all summer, Buss basically said, yes, make me an offer.

"I would certainly listen," Buss said. "...You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business. He [Kobe Bryant] looks at it the same way I look at it."

And now the entire NBA is looking at it. Where would Kobe Bryant go, when and for whom are the questions being asked throughout the league. The grapevine is suddenly white hot.

The destination favoured by most insiders is Chicago, where Kobe Bryant could do a more-than-passable Michael Jordan imitation.

One deal that league insiders said was gaining some momentum yesterday was Kobe Bryant to Chicago in a trade for Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni.

"If you have a chance to get the best player in the game, you have to do it," one league executive said.

The Dallas Mavericks are a possibility. The Memphis Grizzlies maybe. The Toronto Raptors?

Certainly Raptors president Bryan Colangelo isn't shy about making a bold move, and any move that would break up the core of Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani and T.J. Ford would be bold.

But a package of Bargnani, Ford and Rasho Nesterovic would satisfy the NBA's requirement that trades involve players with salaries within 125 per cent of each other and would leave a core of Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jorge Garbajosa, Bosh and Jason Kapono, which Kobe Bryant might find appealing.

When the possibility was floated to Colangelo in June, he laughed and politely pointed out that there was a big gap between being a real general manager and pretending to be one. But that was before Garnett ended up in Boston. And before Buss started talking.

Which isn't to say Kobe Bryant to Toronto is any more likely now than in June. Just more fodder for the grapevine.

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