Getty Image
Kobe Bryant is Los Angeles Lakers royalty, having won four titles with the iconic franchise, and playing his entire 20-year career with the Purple and Gold. While Kobe’s remembered as one of the all-time great Laker players, there was a moment, if even for a few weeks, where things got so tense that the future Hall of Famer toyed with bolting the organization — and head to the in-town rival L.A. Clippers instead.
For any of us old enough to remember, 2004 was a strange offseason for the Lakers. Coming off a pretty shocking NBA Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons, the team had to decide which direction it was going in — younger with Kobe Bryant as the face of the franchise, or more experienced with Shaquille O’Neal playing that role, because the two clearly couldn’t co-exist much longer. Making all this more intriguing was the fact that Bryant was a free agent that summer, and there were rumors that he may bolt from the Lakers.
Ultimately, the Lakers traded Shaq to the Miami Heat, Kobe re-signed, and the franchise began a new era. But it wasn’t without some serious drama, as Clippers’ longtime broadcaster (who recently retired), Ralph Lawler, recently detailed.
According to Lawler, the Clippers weren’t only serious threats to getting Kobe Bryant to sign — with the superstar admitting he was “very close” in an interview a couple years ago — but the team allegedly had a verbal agreement from Kobe before he backed out for some reason. Here’s what Lawler told Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times.
“The deal was basically done,” said Lawler. “Within the organization it was everywhere: ‘Oh my god, we got Kobe Bryant.'”
…
“They made their pitch to Kobe and it was a very strong one because it seemed apparent to everyone at that point that Kobe and Shaq just could no longer co-exist,” Lawler said. “Then it’s time for Kobe to excuse himself and go and Donald Sterling walks him to the door expressing concern. ‘Is this really going to happen?’
“Kobe turned to him and — this is an exact quote that I’ve had repeated to me by multiple people — he said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m a Clipper.’ So he walked out the door and [the Clippers] are all high-fiving each other thinking, ‘By God, we’ve done it.’
“If anybody denies any of that,” Lawler added, “they are of faulty memory or they just don’t want to acknowledge it because that is what happened in that meeting in that hotel room.”
If this is how it all went down behind closed doors, then the Clippers have to go down as one of the most unlucky franchises in sports history. Having Kobe Bryant, allegedly, verbally commit and not get a deal done has to sting for the team’s fans, but at least the organization just scooped up two superstars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — which has set the stage for an epic showdown between the Clips and Lakers in the next year or so.
It’s interesting to imagine Kobe in a Clippers uniform, and wonder what his legacy would look like had he jetted from one L.A. franchise for the other. We’ll never get that answer, but, damn, it sure sounds as if we nearly could have seen it happen.