The course of NBA history would be drastically different if it wasn’t for a decision made by the Charlotte Hornets that goes down as one of the worst ever seen by the league. After drafting promising prospect Kobe Bryant 13th overall in 1996, the Hornets immediately swapped him to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac. According …
Taking a walk down memory lane to the anticipated match-up between the Los Angeles Lakers and the team that once drafted, debatable, one of the top 5 players of all-times, the Charlotte Hornets.
That player, we all know, Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant was drafted 13th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets only to be traded up to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac immediately. How different would the game of the NBA have been if the Hornets would have kept Bryant and his career would have began in Charlotte? Would Bryant have won his 5 NBA titles in Charlotte? What outcome would his career had and would we be talking about him in the same way we mention Bryant today as he prepares to retire at the end of this 2015-2016 season. Truth is, nobody knows how different Bryant’s career and the history of the NBA would have been if in 1996 the Hornets would have kept an 18-year old Kobe Bryant.
Now, as we get set to see Kobe face off one last time against the team that drafted him nearly 20 years ago, a questionnaire comes to mind of NBA experts and a bittersweet feeling to all those NBA and Kobe fans. The only question everyone in common has in mind is.... Will Kobe play tomorrow night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, for his last ride against the Charlotte Hornets.