In the summer of 1996, then-Los Angeles Lakers executive Jerry West needed to clear enough salary cap space to make a big enough offer to Shaquille O'Neal. He decided to kill two birds with one stone by trading away starting center Vlade Divac for a high school kid from the Philadelphia area named Kobe Bryant.
At the time, it seemed like merely a salary dump. But West wanted to acquire a draft pick that was high enough to use on Bryant, and he found a taker for Divac in the Charlotte Hornets, who had the No. 13 pick that year.
As draft day started, things seemed to go according to plan. But the New Jersey Nets, who had the No. 8 pick, threatened to derail West's grand plan.
Arn Tellem, Bryant's agent at the time, recalled what went down back then
during an appearance on "The Draymond Green Show."
“When we came out that year, he was gonna go to the Nets with the eighth pick,” Tellem said. “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.”
West was smitten with Bryant after a workout during which the guard was being defended by Michael Cooper, the Lakers' defensive stud during the Showtime era of the 1980s. It was the best workout West had seen, and he had to have the 17-year-old.
But the Nets also really wanted Bryant -- in particular, John Nash, their general manager. Tellem reportedly told the Nets that Bryant didn't want to play for them because North Jersey was too close to home. But John Calipari, their head coach, had final say on all basketball decisions, and he decided to go with Kerry Kittles instead.
With that, as Tellem recalled, everything was set to take place as planned.
“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.’”
Charlotte then took Bryant at No. 13, and days later, the trade became official. Bryant became a Laker, as did O'Neal.
Five years after Magic Johnson's first retirement, the Purple and Gold were contenders again, and the rest of the league would spend years afterward in constant fear as the team claimed three straight NBA championships with Bryant and O'Neal and two more in the late 2000s with Bryant and Pau Gasol.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Kobe Bryant's former agent on how Nets almost took Bryant in NBA draft
