Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant admitted at one time he wanted to sign with the Washington Wizards as a free agent. Bryant, who said he considered it in the early 2000s, wanted to leave Los Angeles for the chance to play alongside Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, who was then playing for Washington.
If Washington hadn't split from Jordan in 2003, the team would have likely ended up signing Bryant as a free agent in 2004, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post.
"More than a decade ago, Bryant wanted to get away from Los Angeles, and the team he wanted to join was the Wizards, where he would join forces with his mentor Michael Jordan," Lee wrote Monday. "Those plans evaporated when then-Wizards owner Abe Pollin parted ways with Jordan in 2003, a year before Bryant became a free agent, but as Wizards fans pine over the idea of Kevin Durant coming to Washington as a free agent, the near-miss that was Kobe-to-DC finally can be shared."
When asked about it, Bryant confirmed it almost happened.
"That's true," he said, via the Post. "A long time ago? Yeah."
In the early 2000s, Bryant was feuding with then-teammate Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant said he had weighed the option of signing with Washington not just for the opportunity to play alongside his idol, but to get away from O'Neal. Ultimately, though, he stayed in Los Angeles and went on to win two more NBA titles without O'Neal.
"The challenge had been thrown down upon me, of not being able to win without Shaq. A public challenge never really bothered me too much, but he made a couple of comments as well. I think he called me Penny Hardaway Part 2 or something like that. So that's what [ticked] me off," Bryant said. "Then it was like, 'Listen, you know the step back that I took to help us win championships. Let's not get [expletive] confused. I can dominate on my own. I decided to stay here and win championships and sacrifice MVPs and scoring titles and all that stuff.' So once that was said, it was like a line in the sand now."
