As hard as it is to believe, 19 years ago today Kobe Bryant was traded by the Charlotte Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for current Sacramento Kings president and former LA big man Vlade Divac.
It was alleged that Kobe Bryant didn’t want to play for the Hornets, something the Black Mamba has always denied.
Of course, teams who picked ahead of the Hornets in the 1998 NBA Draft, like the aforementioned Sacramento Kings said they had planned to draft Bryant, but were informed he would not play for them. It’s a story the Hornets themselves have stuck to as well over the years, but Kobe Bryant says its nonsense.
In fact, one year ago today, Kobe Bryant trolled the Charlotte Hornets on Twitter, reminding them on what they lost out on and thanking them for letting him go to the Lakers.
On this day 18yrs ago the hornets told me right after they drafted me that they had no use for me and were going to trade me #thanku #lakers
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 1, 2014
So who do we believe here? Is it Kobe Bryant telling the truth? The Hornets really thought it made basketball sense to trade the young basketball phenom for a solid, though unspectacular big man? Or Kobe Bryant, as long rumored, simply refused to play for anybody but the LA Lakers?
