The Chicago Bulls went into a long decline after Michael Jordan 's team broke up following "The Last Dance." With Jordan retired and Pippen traded, the Bulls tried to do their best to rebuild. However, from 1998 to 2007, every superstar that they fancied and chased rejected the offer to take up the leading role in the Windy City.
Longtime Bulls writer Sam Smith said that the reason why nobody answered the Bulls' call was that everybody felt Jordan's shoes were too big to even try to fill and that they were all afraid to fail.
But then there was Kobe Bryant .
"Nobody wanted to come," said Smith in an interview with HoopsHype.
"They made offers: Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Eddie Jones, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, literally every single one. And they ran away, fast. They just ran away from playing after Jordan. Kobe wanted to be traded to Chicago."
"I think it was the summer of 2007, before the Lakers made the Pau Gasol trade. He wanted to be traded and he came up with Chicago. And then why would he want to come to Chicago? They haven't had any success, basically, since 1998, but he wants to be on the United Center floor, winning a championship to show he can do what Jordan did," he added.
After Jordan retired, the Bulls did not have a single franchise player from 1999 to 2007. They went from Toni Kukoc to Elton Brand , then Jalen Rose to Jamal Crawford and the trio of Ben Gordon , Kirk Heinrich and Luol Deng . Without continuity, there was also no success.
Then, in 2007, a disgruntled Kobe asked the Lakers to trade him. They tried to send him to the Detroit Pistons , but armed with a no-trade clause, Bryant gave them a shortlist of preferred landing spots, which had Chicago at the top of the list. Fortunately for L.A., Dr. Jerry Buss convinced Kobe to stay and then acquired Pau Gasol to help him win titles again.
But while the trade never happened, Smith said Kobe didn't shy away from the challenge.
"Kobe was the only one in history who wanted to do it; while all these other great players ran away from the Jordan shadow, he ran to it. He was like the firefighter running to the fire. He was the policeman who ran toward the 9/11 terrorist attack. Everybody else was running away for safety and he was running toward it," Smith added.
Finally, the Bulls landed the jackpot in 2008 when they drafted Chicago native Derrick Rose No. 1 overall in the Draft. Rose was the savior that the franchise was looking for and he was on his way there after winning the league MVP award in his third year. However, injuries derailed him from reaching his peak.
Meanwhile, Kobe talked about the big what-if in 2019 .
"Seriously, I don't think people understand the impact he had on me as a player and as a leader," Bryant said . "So if I was fortunate enough to come here, if that trade had happened, it's not a pressure situation to live up to what he's done. It's more like, 'OK, I'm carrying on this man's legacy. Can I do it justice? Can I represent Chicago the way it should be represented in his honor?'"
It would have been interesting to see how Kobe would have fared in Chicago. The Bulls did not have much of a team during that time and so success wasn't a guarantee. However, as Smith said, Bryant was the only superstar who was brave enough to put his legacy on the line to try to fill MJ's shoes.
That's why he was special.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
