NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers Will Never Trade Kobe Bryant

There is no way that the Los Angeles Lakers will ever trade Kobe Bryant unless the megastar forces his way out of the city.

After 16 years, that’s not going to happen.

Bryant is the centerpiece of what they are doing in Los Angeles, and any trade they actually do make will be to supplement Bryant and not move him out. With the losses mounting, a move may be close though.

There has been uncertainty about the direction on the team, but the rumors that Kobe may want to be moved are untrue according to the superstar.

Bryant told ESPN about his frustration, but shows that he doesn’t want to leave team:

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I'm always frustrated. I'm frustrated when we lose one game. But I believe we obviously tried to improve our team. They tried to make a move (for now-Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul), and it fell through. I'm sure they're working on other things as well. I'm not going to get bent out of shape, or hoot and holler, or lose my temper or whatever. I believe we're all on the same page, we know what we want to do. We know what the goal is.

"

The Lakers are hitting the skids a bit because of their age, but they will never make a trade that sends arguably the biggest star in the NBA to another city. That would be a PR nightmare.

With Bryant obviously not going anywhere, it’s time for the Lakers to start looking around to see which deals they could pull off to make Bryant’s life easier. He can’t do everything on his own.

I think that the Lakers should be pushing to sign a free agent like J.R. Smith who can take some of the scoring pressure off and won’t cost the team anything. If he won’t sign, they should look to move one of their aging stars in replace for a younger player that can add tempo to a slow team.

LA may make a trade, but it will not involve Bryant.

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