Kobe Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers to two championship rings between 2004 and 2016 as the main star, after Shaquille O’Neal controversially left the popular franchise. For this reason, “The Black Mamba” always sought to lead his team to stellar elements of the NBA.

So much so that a legend like Dirk Nowirzki recognized that the historic former shooting guard, who tragically died at the beginning of 2020, called him in 2011 to join the popular yellow and purple team.

“You will understand that the Dallas Mavericks is my home. I would feel weird putting on another uniform,” the legendary German replied to Kobe Bryant, according to the Pasión Basket account, adding that the MVP of two NBA Finals “respected him even more after that “.

The idea of ​​the 18-time All-Star Game member was that Nowitzki would be part of an important nucleus of Lakers players that also included the Spanish center Pau Gasol, and whom Dallas had beaten in the 2011 playoffs prior to winning the only title. in organization history, when they beat the Miami Heat in six games during the league finals.

Both Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki made the roster of the 75 best historical players in the NBA in 2021, so it is likely that together they would have fought to win a ring for the Lakers.