Vince Carter says Kobe Bryant would have won his sixth ring if the Chris Paul trade wasn't vetoed: "That would be a cheat code"

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Kobe Bryant's quest to match Michael Jordan came up short when the Black Mamba stopped at five championship rings. Although Kobe would later say he was good with finishing one ring short of what his idol accomplished, there was a time when he could have given No. 6 a real chase.

That opportunity came in 2011 when the Lakers agreed to terms with the New Orleans Hornets to trade superstar point guard Chris Paul to the Purple and Gold in a blockbuster three-team deal. However, that trade was vetoed by then-NBA commissioner David Stern, and Bryant would finish his storied NBA career by missing the playoffs in each of his final three NBA seasons.

However, if that CP3 trade had gone down, incoming Hall of Famer Vince Carter believes that Kobe would have become a six-time NBA champ.

"If P goes there, first of all, I was like wow, how are they able to do that?" said Carter on ESPN's The Jump.

Kobe plus CP3 would be a menace

Chris Paul was at the top of his game when the trade to the Lakers was supposed to happen. He was only 26 at the time and had become a perennial All-Star who was figuring in MVP conversations. Meanwhile, Kobe was only 31 when he won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.

Paul and Kobe played together in the 2008 Redeem Team and looked good together. Remember, this was Kobe before his Achilles injury, so he was still very much in his prime. Bryant won five championships with Derek Fisher as the best PG he ever played with, so having CP3 would have been an upgrade.

"That would be a cheat code with Kobe and CP3 together. If that were to happen, Kobe would have his sixth ring, the Lakers would add another ring to their dynasty, CP3 would definitely have a ring and oh yeah, CP3 would still be playing with the Lakers right now," added Carter.

Paul was just one piece of a grand plan

Trading for the 6'0" guard would have been huge for the Lakers back then. However, acquiring CP3 was just one move in a grand plan that the Purple and Gold was trying to hatch, according to All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas. Agent Zero claimed that the Lakers were about to build a super team, and the league did not want that to happen.

Arenas was in Orlando at the time, and there were rumblings that Dwight Howard was headed to Los Angeles for Andrew Bynum. After acquiring Paul and Howard, Gil said that the Lakers still had around $24-30 million left in salary cap space, which back then was good enough to get two more max players.

Kobe, Paul, Dwight, and two more max players would have given the Lakers a super team. But that's just Gil's theory. Commissioner Stern vetoed the CP3 trade while acting as GM of the Hornets. Chris ended up playing for the Clippers, and Kobe never got a chance to chase a sixth ring.