Following missing the playoffs in 2005 and two first-round knockouts in the 2006 and 2007 playoffs, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was ready to move on. He came out publicly and demanded a trade from the only team he had ever known as he was convinced that he would never be able to win another title with the Lakers.

“At that time, the Lakers had to do something. I was just losing faith in what they were trying to do. It was like I was a meal ticket,” Bryant told ESPN’s Baxter Holmes this week. “You come out and score 40, 50 points, fill the seats, we’re going to keep the payroll at a minimum, generate revenue. It’s like, look, listen, I am not with that, dude. I have to win without Shaq. I’ve got to do it. We’ve got to do something.”

In the process of looking for a suitable trade partner, the Lakers called none other than the Cleveland Cavaliers and inquired about a trade that would’ve sent Bryant to the Cavaliers in exchange for LeBron James, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

According to the Cavaliers’ front office, it was the only trade call involving James that they’ve ever received and they weren’t willing to budge on the 22-year-old. As it turned out, Bryant would’ve blocked the trade using his no-trade clause anyways.

“I never would’ve approved it. Never. The trade to go to Cleveland? Never,” Bryant told Holmes. “That wasn’t one of the teams that was on my list. It was Chicago, San Antonio [or] Phoenix.”

The rest, as they say, is history.