Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant almost teamed up in 2004

As Kobe Bryant's career begins to wind down, he can take some time to sit back and reflect on what could have been.

While discussing his career with the Washington Post, Bryant dropped a bit of information that had only been dreamed about as a far off possibility until now.

"More than a decade ago, Bryant wanted to get away from Los Angeles, and the team he wanted to join was the Wizards, where he would join forces with his mentor Michael Jordan."

In the piece it's noted Bryant had considered jumping to the Wizards once he became an unrestricted free agent in 2004:

"That's true," Bryant confirmed recently. "A long time ago? Yeah."

"We would've put together a great team and we would've won championships," Bryant said. "Listen, man. There are not a lot of players in this league that say, 'Come hell or high water, we're going to get this [expletive] done.' People can look around and joke around about winning, saying they want to win. For me, it's a matter of life or death. It was that important to me. And if it's that important to me, I'm going to get there."

It isn't clear whether Bryant and Jordan would have played together or if the former Bulls great would have been putting the team together around the current Lakers guard, the current New Orleans Hornets owner was reportedly confident in his ability to land Bryant.

"Jordan, however, wasn't allowed to recruit Bryant because Pollin decided in May 2003, not to let him continue running the team. While Jordan's ability to land Bryant was no guarantee, a person close to him said Jordan was "confident" he would have made it happen."

What a duo that would have been.