NBA history is littered with What-Ifs. The Los Angeles Lakers, to begin the 2010s decade, happen to be one of them. With Kobe Bryant still at the peak of his powers, the team did not get to make one blockbuster move. You know the story, the vetoed trade for Chris Paul that has ramifications to this day. But, according to Gilbert Arenas, the real reason for the move is far different from the one everyone is familiar with.

“So, the trade was Chris Paul is getting traded. He’s getting traded for Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. So, one player for two…Now you have Chris Paul and Kobe. On the back end, which no really knew at the time, was [Andrew] Bynum being pushed for Dwight Howard, right? So now you would have had Dwight Howard, Kobe, and Chris Paul.”

However, the problem wasn’t the star power. “No one really gave a s**t about that. The actual problem was after the trade was done, Lakers had 24 million dollars in cap space. Back then, 24 million dollars in cap space is 2 max contracts.“

As a result, the possibilities for superstar talents were endless. “Oh let me get LeBron James and Chris Bosh…They had so much money left over that the Lakers would have created the USA team.” However, one curiosity-peaking name also came out of the former Washington Wizards floor general’s mouth.

Could the entire veto have been in the hands of Mark Cuban?

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The man who caused the Kobe Bryant veto

Even though David Stern became public enemy number one for vetoing the trade, the real blame lies with Mark Cuban. According to Arenas, it was Cuban who first crunched the number on the deal. As a result, he went to other owners with his findings. The rest, as they say, is history.

During that period, there was no love lost between Cuban and the 5x NBA Champion. While that paved the way for respect towards the end of his career, 2011 was a different time. With thinly-veiled shots and record performances galore, it made for prime viewing whenever The Black Mamba came to Dallas.

Maybe this was the ex-owner’s way of saying, “Amnesty That.” 

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