Kobe Stands To His Word, Meets w/Buss in Spain Options

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He did not back down on his trade reports. An article in Press Enterprise indicated the Lakers are looking for this: One report had the Lakers hoping to acquire Bulls center Ben Wallace, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Chicago's No. 1 draft pick (9) for Bryant.

However, it also said that the entire league knows that the Lakers are going to try to gut any team that gets Kobe and Kobe does have the ability to put a gun to the Lakers head (as Kobe has apparently given the Lakers a list of three teams, two of which are the Bulls and Knicks).

Here is the article:
Disgruntled Lakers guard Kobe Bryant met with Lakers owner Jerry Buss on Friday in Barcelona, Spain, and reiterated his demand to be traded, two league sources said.

Buss was shocked by Bryant's continued and defiant stance, the sources said, and left the meeting unsure if he would give in to Bryant's demands or if he would keep the All-Star, knowing it'll be "impossible" to get equal value in return.

The Lakers confirmed Friday night that Bryant and Buss did meet. Bryant was in Barcelona on vacation, and Buss was on vacation in China before going to London and then to Barcelona.

"Our position is that it's a private meeting between the two of them and it shall remain private between the two of them," Lakers public relations director John Black said Friday night in a phone interview.

Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, didn't return messages.

Bryant began his campaign to force a trade almost three weeks ago by venting in a barrage of interviews on radio stations and in newspapers.

His last public comments had him wanting to be traded, rescinding those demands and then still wanting to be traded, all coming on the same day.

Bryant is the only NBA player with a no-trade clause in his contract. He had said he would waive that clause. But he could make a trade more difficult because he has a three-team wish list, the sources said. Two of the teams are the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks.

One report had the Lakers hoping to acquire Bulls center Ben Wallace, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Chicago's No. 1 draft pick (9) for Bryant.

But the sources said every team, including the Bulls, knows the Lakers will try to "gut" a team in order to get as much value as possible for Bryant.

Bryant could also veto a trade if he thinks the team has to give up too many players, which, the sources said, could also make a trade more difficult.

For a team to acquire Bryant, it cannot swap one or more players exceeding 125 percent of his $19,490,625 million salary he'll earn this season.

Bryant has a 15-percent trade kicker in his contract the team that acquires him has to pick up for $13,289,062 million that would be amortized over the last four years of his contract.

Bryant has an "early termination option" in his contract which allows him to opt out after the 2009 season, meaning he could leave the Lakers without the team getting any compensation.

He has four years and $88,593,750 million left on his contract.