In a special one-to-one discussion which aired on NBA TV on Saturday, former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal sat down and gave us a wonderful insight into their time together with the franchise.The pair touched on many aspects of the eight years they shared with the Purple and Gold and revealed several interesting stories that people didn't know about.Of course, they discussed their infamous feud and what led to O'Neal eventually being traded to the Miami Heat in 2004.After winning three championships together and going through highs and lows both on and off the court, Kobe and Shaq had to be split up.The team decided to move forward with Bryant and felt that he had to be their leader but could only do so with O'Neal gone.But interestingly, the Black Mamba revealed that he was on the verge of leaving Los Angeles before the big man did.The five-time champion shared that he was looking for homes in Chicago in anticipation of being traded to the Bulls."We were actually looking for homes in Chicago, researching schools, places to live," Bryant told O'Neal on the NBA TV special."There was a story in ESPN, I think it was ESPN Magazine, and they asked you a question about me and Penny [Hardaway]. And you said we were essentially the same. And I looked at that and said, uh, 'no, we're not.'"...I probably used it as motivation too. Saying, listen, if this is the conversation, I don't want this conversation. When I retire, I don't want people to say, 'OK, he only won because of Shaq.'

"As unfair as that is, Magic [Johnson] never won without Cap [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar], right? Michael [Jordan] never won without Scottie [Pippen].

"But here I am, getting stuck with this argument, which is not fair, yet this is the argument people will make, and I'm not OK with that. Therefore, I knew OK, I gotta go."

He also admitted that he had meetings with the Bulls front office and that he and his wife had agreed on the move.

But he said this all changed when he received a call from his agent telling him that Shaq had requested a trade.

The former shooting guard knew that the Lakers wouldn't offload both of their star players and immediately scrapped his plans to move to Chicago.

Kobe went on to win two championships without the Hall of Fame center and has gone down as one of the best Lakers of all time.

He has two jerseys, eight and 24, hanging in the rafters after they were retired earlier this season but it's now crazy to think that he was so close to departing.

But the organisation made the correct decision and they were rewarded as he developed into one of the greatest players in NBA history at Staples Center and gave them incredible success during an illustrious 20-year career.