Like It or Not, Kobe Bryant Is Staying Put

Six months after Kobe Bryant went public with a trade request, he's still a Los Angeles Laker.

We've heard of a few teams that were possibly interested in Kobe, including Dallas and Chicago.

But if you're the Lakers, is it worth trading the best player in the NBA for a couple of young stars?

The Dallas Mavericks were reportedly interested in Kobe, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban squashed those rumors.

We have heard several trade possibilities that would send Kobe to Chicago, but since Kobe has a no-trade clause in his contract, he pretty much shot down every deal.

Is Kobe a proven winner? We all know the answer to that question. But is he the kind of star teams want on their roster?

Kobe is a known crybaby when things don't go his way. He also criticizes his own teammates if they mess up.

If you do trade Bryant, you know you are not going to get equal value for him unless you get LeBron and D-Wade—and we all know that is definitely not happening.

Luol Deng and Ben Gordon...c'mon. I mean, no disrespect to those guys, but you're getting two future stars for arguably the best player in the league.

Yes, Kobe is the best—but he's not getting any younger.

He's not that 17-year-old from 1996—he's now 29...almost at that deadly age of 30.

If Kobe were going to get traded, the deal would have happened already.

Sure, he can shoot any deal down—but L.A. could have found something to Kobe's satisfaction.

So why not keep Kobe and build around him?

Bryant is very easy to build around—but Jerry Buss is doing a terrible job of it. The Lakers failed to get Jermaine O'Neal, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, and even Shawn Marion.

Like it or not, Kobe will be a Laker the rest of this year. The only question that remains:

Can they win?