Kobe Bryant: If You Had To, What 5 Players Would You Trade Him For?

Let's say that you're allowed to replace Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak for an entire year. You'll be paid his exact salary and be able to make decisions for one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports. But, in order to be paid, there's one catch—actually, one extremely huge catch: you have to trade the team's franchise player.

Yes, you have to deal No. 24 Kobe Bryant, arguably the best player in the NBA today. And yes, the same Kobe Bryant who has five rings and is the Lakers' all-time leading scorer.

You have to come up with a list of five players in the league that you would consider trading for. It can be any current player, even a future Hall of Famer like Darko Milicic or Kwame Brown.

All joking aside, here is my list of five, in no particular order, if it was up to me.

Kevin Durant

If you're going to trade one of the game's top scorers like Kobe, then you might as well acquire the guy who has led the league in scoring the past two seasons.

The 6'9" Durant can flat out shoot the lights out. He reminds fans of Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird, despite not having the same kind of stellar passing ability.

Durant is already a superstar, and the scary thing is, he's only 23 years of age. Years from now, he just might end up surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the leading scorer in NBA history.      

Derrick Rose

You just have to consider trading for the league MVP to replace Bryant as "The Man" in Hollywood.

From his second year in the pros to his third, Rose went from one of the game's top point guards to the best point guard around.

The super-quick and athletic Rose led the Chicago Bulls to the league's best record last season, and ran away with the MVP award.   

Whether he's breaking a defender's ankles or performing an one-handed alley-oop, he's sure to make plenty of spectacular highlights.  

LeBron James

Many fans claim Bryant is the best current player in the league. And all the others would give that label to LeBron James.

James is one of the most talented and rare athletes ever. His athleticism is sort of like Michael Jordan's, his passing makes you think of Magic Johnson, and he has a body like former power forward Karl Malone.

That's three Hall of Famers all wrapped up in one.

There has been a few negative things said about James concerning "The Decision" to head to Miami and because of his play in last season's NBA Finals.

However, there's no denying that anyone would want a player with his skills on their team.       

Dwyane Wade

D-Wade is the second Miami Heat superstar on this list.

You could make a solid argument for him being the league's best 2-guard in the game, even better than the more popular Bryant.

Every season, Wade puts up at least 25 points a night and led the league in scoring with a Jordan-like 30.2 points per game back in 2009. 

He's the lone player on this list that's ever won an NBA championship, as his Heat defeated Dallas in the 2006 Finals. He was named Finals MVP that year after averaging nearly 35 points per game.         

Dwight Howard

Howard is, without question, the top center in the league today. And there probably isn't a single person in the country that would argue with that statement.

Howard put together a monster season in 2010-11, averaging a career-high 22.9 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has a chance to go down as one of the greatest big men the NBA game has ever known. And he has one of the best personalities in the league.

Adding Howard to the Lakers roster would mean the team would have just another dominant center. George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal were star big men in the past for the franchise.