Kobe Bryant played 20 seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers and retired as one of the greatest players in NBA history. But not many know that he almost did not become an icon in the City of Angels.
After the Lakers GM Jerry West closed a deal with the Charlotte Hornets to acquire Bryant on draft night, the Hornets almost backed out of the agreement because Vlade Divac, whom the Lakers were supposed to ship to the Hornets, threatened to retire after learning that he had been traded for Kobe. So when Charlotte GM Bob Bass said they were reneging from the deal, West coerced Bass to complete the trade.
“Bob, we have a deal, goddamn it,” West told him. “Vlade is not going to retire. Trust me.”
Los Angeles was like a second home to Vlade
Divac was the Lakers' 26th overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft out of Yugoslavia. Up to that point, Los Angeles was the only place that Vlade called home away from home. The Serbian center was also thriving with the Lakers, so, at first, he did not understand why his team was giving him away to the Hornets for a high school kid who had not played a single NBA game.
However, West was determined to pair young Bryant with Shaquille O'Neal. The Lakers won the free agency sweepstakes in 1996 when they successfully pried The Diesel from Orlando. The Logo believed that a Shaq and Kobe duo would be the next Magic and Kareem for the Lake Show, and, in hindsight, he was right.
Without the guarantee that Divac would play for them, it was natural for Bass to try to call off the deal just to keep Kobe, but the savvy purple and gold GM had other plans. He had to get the deal done by hook or by crook. And so he and Kobe's agent, Arm Tellem, took turns compelling Bass to complete the trade.
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Vlade later understood why it had to happen
While there were tense moments on draft night, everyone, including Divac, ultimately got at peace with the deal. During a 2016 interview, Vlade told ESPN that Kobe going to the Lakers was great for the league as a whole, and if he were in West's shoes that 1996 night, he would've traded himself for Kobe .
"Now, from this distance, I'm very happy that he went to LA and had the career that he had and became one of the greatest players," the retired center said . "I have a lot of respect for him. I think he brought to the league something special. We're all thankful for the career he's had. "
The Hornets could have had their way on draft night. Kobe could've ended up in Charlotte, and NBA history as we know it now would have been very different. Thank goodness Jerry forced the Hornets to do it.
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