The late, great Kobe Bryant is, in the eyes of many, the greatest Los Angeles Lakers player of all-time and one of the greatest basketball players period. But he almost never suited up for the purple and gold and it took a lot of maneuvering ahead of the 1996 NBA Draft to make that happen.
Then-Lakers general manager Jerry West was enamored with Bryant, but it was unclear whether he would be able to move up high enough in the draft to have a chance at taking him. Bryant’s agent at the time, Arn Tellem, was close with West and did everything he could to get the phenom to L.A. as well.
“When we came out that year, he was gonna go to the Nets with the eighth pick,” Tellem said on the Draymond Green Show. “Jerry West, we had the secret workouts and Jerry and I were very close at that point and Jerry said he really wanted him and he loved him. Jerry said, ‘Look, I have big plans. I’m gonna try to get a big free agent, the big fella Shaquille O’Neal. I’m gonna try to remake this team and I want Kobe to be part of it.’ They didn’t have the high draft pick and he wasn’t sure if he could get a high draft pick, and I wasn’t sure if he could get a high draft pick.
“So we started the workout process that year and he worked out for some of the top teams. But fortunately I cut it off at New Jersey and New Jersey was the one team that was gonna take him. And it really wasn’t until the day before the draft, Jerry finally called me and said ‘I can get the 13th pick.’ I’ll never forget that meeting with Kobe and Joe Bryant in his hotel room and Kobe pulled me down and he said ‘I wanna be a Laker, that’s why I hired you, get me to the Lakers.’ I knew if we could get him past New Jersey he’d fall to 13. I didn’t let any of those teams see him. Your Golden State Warriors were one of those teams.
“My rival and good friend David Falk was at the table next to us at the draft and he was representing Kerry Kittles. And they say, ‘With the eighth pick the New Jersey Nets take Kerry Kittles.’ They’re happy because that’s where they wanted to go. We’re celebrating . We’re going crazy. They think that’s where we wanna go, they don’t understand. They’re looking at us like why are we celebrating more than they are? David comes up to me and says, ‘Why are you celebrating, do you have something up your sleeve?’ And I say, ‘Yes I do David, you’ll see pretty soon for yourself.’”
Of course, West had worked out a deal with the Charlotte Hornets, trading them center Vlade Divac for the 13th pick which was used to select Bryant. The move also cleared the necessary salary cap room for the Lakers to make that major offer to O’Neal so it is fair to say that Divac is responsible for creating arguably the best duo in NBA history.
Tellem earned his keep by working his magic to ensure Bryant wound up with the Lakers and the rest is history. Who knows what would’ve happened had the Nets taken Bryant with the eighth pick, but thankfully we never had to find out.
P.J. Tucker discusses how Kobe Bryant handled farewell tour
Bryant spent his entire 20-year NBA career with the Lakers and that final season gave us one of the greatest farewell tours in the history of sports. Former player P.J. Tucker recently spoke with great admiration about how Bryant handled that final year.
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