There are all sorts of obstacles to this fantasy’s becoming a reality: the no-trade clause that Bryant has, the opt-out clause that will soon make Anthony a free agent, the huge amount of money that both players make, and the N.B.A.’s intricate salary-cap rules. However, according to people in the N.B.A. who make their living by knowing all the legal fine print, such a trade could be made — if all parties involved wanted it.

I may be the only person on the planet who believes such a trade would be a key step toward bringing the Knicks a championship. Knicks fans point out — emotionally, by the way — that Bryant is 35 and has a ton of N.B.A. mileage on him, and that he tore his Achilles’ tendon in 2013 and fractured his knee this season. His body has taken a beating, and Jackson would be gambling on Bryant’s recuperative powers. But Bryant’s will, his competitive spirit and his commitment to winning are like new, and they are what the Knicks need most.

The Knicks don’t need an aging Bryant to be the Kobe of old. For the next two seasons at least (Bryant is signed through the summer of 2016), they need him to point the way. And that, he can still do.

In Anthony, the Lakers would get a supreme building block. That organization has good karma, as Jackson might say, and with Anthony still in his prime, Los Angeles would find a way to get back on top in the Western Conference.

What would attract Bryant to New York, with its nasty winters and sometimes impolite fans?

The answer might be pride and legacy. Bryant admires Jackson, and Jackson is probably one of the few people capable of showing Bryant a vision of accomplishing something that even Jordan could not — reviving a second N.B.A. team. That might just convince Bryant to try a two-year run on Broadway, or maybe even more than two years. If nothing else, Bryant might set the stage for a Kevin Durant era in New York, with Durant leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to come east and join Bryant when Durant becomes a free agent in 2016.

If Knicks fans need proof of how players can transform an organization, they need look no further than the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets added two aging stars from the Boston Celtics — Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett — and saw a cultural shift slowly take place.

“Guys like that don’t accept teammates playing losing basketball or not taking things seriously,” said the Nets’ general manager, Billy King. “If guys aren’t approaching the game right, they speak up. If the team is in a losing period, they keep guys together. They keep you focused on winning.”