When Kobe Bryant demanded the Los Angeles Lakers trade him in 2007, his destination almost ended up being The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Yahoo! Sports reported today that the Lakers had agreed to a deal that would send Bryant to the Detroit Pistons, satisfying his desire to leave Los Angeles as part of a long-running feud with former teammate Shaquille O'Neal.

A source confirmed to the MLive Media Group tonight that the trade was indeed a done deal. But Bryant nixed it when he had a change of heart after meeting with Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died today after battling cancer.

For the deal to happen, Bryant had to waive the no-trade clause in his contract, according to Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski, who reported that Buss invited Bryant to his home in the Hollywood Hills to break the news of the pending trade.

It was then that Bryant decided he didn't want to leave the Lakers and Buss after all.

"Looking back, Bryant isn't sure it would've mattered whether it was Detroit or Chicago, Dallas or New York," Wojnarowski wrote. "In that moment, in Buss' house in the hills, it washed over Bryant how much staying a Laker for life meant to him, how no matter how dire the state of the franchise seemed, that Buss had a history of restoring the Lakers to championship contention.

" 'It hit me that I didn't really want to walk out on Dr. Buss,' Bryant told Yahoo! Sports on Monday."

According to Wojnarwoski, the Pistons would have given up a "combination of core players and draft picks" to get Bryant, who has won five championships with the Lakers.

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