Paxson Pulls the Bulls Out of the Kobe Sweepstakes

For the moment, it looks like Kobe Bryant will remain a Laker.

In the interest of preserving the sanity of the players on his team, John Paxson, general manager of the Chicago Bulls, the leading candidate in the Kobe Bryant Trade Sweepstakes, stated that the Lakers’ superstar will apparently not be heading to Chicago.

Just a day after Mark Cuban withdrew his Dallas Mavericks as a possible destination for Kobe, and the news of a supposedly discussed three-team deal in which Kobe would have joined the Bulls, free-agent power forward P.J. Brown (in a sign-and-trade) and shooting Ben Gordon would go to Sacramento, and the Lakers would receive Ben Wallace and Ron Artest, the Bulls have taken their name out of the running for the NBA’s best player.

Undoubtedly, there are more details to come. But one thing is certain- if the Bulls are out of running for Kobe, there is no reason to believe that a trade is imminent.

So maybe, just maybe, we can take a short break from the Kobe trade talks?