Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant hoped to be traded away from the club, which has fared poorly in both regular seasons and the playoffs during the past three years.

 

 

"I would like to be traded. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there's no other alternative," the 28-year-old Bryant told ESPN radio.

 

"They want to move in a different direction and the team is rebuilding," Bryant said. "I wish they would have told me that before re-signing me."

 

Bryant, who joined the Lakers in 1996, has four years left on his contract which also includes a no trade clause which he would have to waive.

 

Lakers owner Jerry Buss said Wednesday that he had not talked to Bryant lately and that they plan to keep Bryant a Laker.

 

"Kobe has not told us directly that he wants to be traded," Buss said. "We have made it very clear that we are building our team around Kobe and that we intend for him to be a Laker his entire career.

 

"We will speak directly to Kobe."

 

The Lakers have not won a playoff series in three years since they traded their giant centre Shaquille O'Neal.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)