Chris Paul Trade: If Kobe Bryant Was Upset Before, He's Gonna Be Irate Now

One thing that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant probably thought would never happen during his career is that the Lakers would be playing second fiddle to the Clippers, their crosstown rivals.

Yet after Wednesday's trade that brought Chris Paul to town and with phenom Blake Griffin already in the fold, it's quite possible that could happen.

Bryant made it known that he was upset after the Lakers dealt forward Lamar Odom for next to nothing.

If he was mad then. He has to be very irate now.

Bryant has seen the teams around him in the Western Conference get better, while his Lakers have got much worse. Now the Clippers have upstaged the Lakers by acquiring Paul.

Who would have ever thought that the team to watch in Los Angeles would clearly be the Clippers instead of the Lakers?

When looking at the teams in the Western Conference that could possibly contend for a championship, the Lakers are clearly on the outside looking in.

Bryant has to be boiling at the mere thought.

General manager Mitch Kupchak said possible big moves were in the works, but are they? Was that more of a statement to try and make Bryant happy?

Another thing is that Bryant is watching the defending NBA champions Dallas Mavericks and other teams clear cap space to take a run at both Dwight Howard and Deron Williams next season.

What have the Lakers done?

More importantly, Bryant knows that the Lakers currently don't have to assets needed to improve. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol are only going to bring so much in return in a possible trade. Not when New Jersey is already offering a young Brook Lopez and a pair of first-round picks for Howard.

If that's not enough to pry Howard away from Orlando, the Lakers can't trump that.

We've seen Bryant angry before and it's not pretty. At this point in his career, Bryant just wants to play for championships.

He's not going to get to do that with the current Lakers roster.