In the mid-1990s, the Los Angeles Lakers were a good team, but they were a far cry from the transcendent team they had been not even a decade earlier.
They needed a superstar to get to the next level, and fortunately, in the summer of 1996, perhaps the biggest one was available: Shaquille O’Neal.
Signing him as a free agent meant they needed to clear cap space, which meant they needed to trade Vlade Divac, their starting center.
In the meantime, general manager Jerry West worked out a high school senior from the Philadelphia area named Kobe Bean Bryant. At first, West did it as a favor to Bryant’s agent, Arn Tellem, a friend of West’s who was based in Santa Monica.
West was impressed enough to invite Bryant back for a second workout, during which he schooled Michael Cooper, who had been one of the greatest defensive players ever for the Showtime Lakers.
The cunning and resourceful West figured he could kill two birds with one stone, and he dealt Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA draft.
It looked like Bryant would be available there, but at the last minute, the New Jersey Nets wanted to take him at No. 8.
Tellem told the Nets that there was no way in hell Bryant wanted to play for them because Jersey was “too close to home.” Actually, the Nets played in East Rutherford, which is in the New York City area and about two hours away from Philly.
But the Nets backed off, and just like that, West made Bryant a Laker. Weeks later, O’Neal also joined the Purple and Gold, forming the NBA’s new superpower.
Little did anyone, other than West himself, know how transcendent Bryant would become in the years to come.
[mm-video type=video id=01g64cjv6fbxv6e99tr6 playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g64cjv6fbxv6e99tr6/01g64cjv6fbxv6e99tr6-1e778d3a4a422d5dca37f724ca1ac2a8.jpg]
[listicle id=83421]