Kobe Bryant was told he was of no use to a team that ended up accepting a $4.7 million contract instead of him.
Kobe Bryant came out of Lower Merion High School an accomplished recruit. He was named Pennsylvania Player of the Year in his junior year at Lower Merion, averaging 31.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He did this while leading the Aces to a state championship his senior year and posting a 31-3 record.
Fast forward to 2002 and Kobe had his number 33 jersey retired by his high school alma mater and rightfully so.
Coming out of high school though, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that he would in fact make that jump straight from HS ball to the NBA. Coach K and Kansas State were the two biggest potential naysayers here.
Duke came in the door knowing pretty hard, according to Kobe Bryant himself, but ultimately, as we all know, he decided to bring his talents to the league. This was definitely the right decision for the eventual Los Angeles Lakers legend. Unfortunately for him, the team that drafted him did not believe in his ability to succeed at such a young age.
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The Charlotte Hornets had no faith in Kobe Bryant from the jump.
Kobe Bryant was drafted 13the overall for the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft. However, behind the scenes, Lakers general manager Jerry Buss was pulling strings for the 17-year-old to don purple and gold strings from the first moment.
While Kobe proved to be a success from his second season onward, the Hornets never had much faith in his potential since they decided to go after him.
In an interview with Stephen A Smith in 2006, ‘The Black Mamba’ discussed his journey to and through the NBA up to that point. When asked about drafting his story, he went on to say:
“After I got drafted, you have to go in and make your calls. So I go in, make a call and speak to a representative of the organization at that time.
They told me they were looking to move me because they had no use or need for me.
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SAS goes on to hilariously mock the fact that that statement is redundant because they gave up Kobe Bryant for a Vlade Divac, who made $4.7 million that 1996-97 season.
While messing up the Kobe draw was a huge mistake, it was understandable at the time. The Hornets had had a win/41-win season for the last four years up to that point and felt they had a chance to contend for a championship.
They would make the playoffs in both 1997 and 1998, losing to the Knicks and Bulls in the first and second rounds, respectively.
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