Given that Kobe Bryant wants to be traded off of the Lakers, the Lakers should try to accommodate him if they can get a reasonable return for him. Thankfully, the Lakers still have Kobe under contract for 2 more years, so they need not hurry as they did with the Shaq trade. While I have all the respect in the world for Kobe's basketball skills and talent, ultimately he is a self-absorbed egomaniac who has conveniently forgotten his history with the Lakers. During his tenure, the Lakers have supported and tolerated Kobe through... ---His rejection of Shaq as a mentor when he first joined the Lakers. -- His repeated fits of ball-hogging from his first season on. --His inability to mesh with very talented teammates like Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, Glen Rice, Gary Payton and the like. --His legal problems in Colorado. --His abuse of Shaq during his legal problems in Colorado and before training camp in 2003. --His insistence that "I'm tired of being Shaq's sidekick" prior to the Lakers trading Shaq. Kobe says he's "all about winning", yet.... --When Jerry Buss told Kobe he was going to trade Shaq. Kobe didn't object even though he had infinite leverage. He could simply have told Buss "If Shaq goes, I won't re-sign". I *guarantee* the Lakers would have worked it out. --When the Lakers offered Kobe the full maximum contract with home team bonuses (7 years, $130+ million), did he say "Oh no, I can live on $60 million. Why don't you use that money to sign some good free agents." ? No, he took the full salary-cap-albatross maximum contract. --When Kobe re-signed after Shaq was traded, he *must* have known that the Lakers' plan was to be mediocre until LeBron James, Yao Ming, Dwayne Wade or Amare Stoudemire became free agents. It was *all over* the news. Unfortunately, all those players signed contract extensions and the Lakers plan was foiled. Now Kobe says the Lakers "lied to him". B-flipping-S! --Kobe presently claims that he and the Lakers have a "different vision" of the team's future. Yet he is on record as stating that he had input into the possible Al Harrington trade (which didn't happen) and the Vlad Radmonovich signing (which did happen and was a disaster). Is Kobe lying now or was he lying then? If the Lakers can get a good mix of young talent and expiring contracts, they should dump the whiny petulant egomaniac and tell him they don't care if the door hits him in the posterior or not. When an organization has paid you $100+ million dollars and helped you win 3 championships, the least you can do is show some respect and class in return. Given the evidence of history, Kobe is incapable of doing that and it's unclear if he'll ever mature to the point where he can.

La lost two football teams as you remember. They then lost Shaq to Miami. Do you also want them to lose their last big sports star as well.

Stay, he aint going anywhere, but LA.