Kupchak: Hornets had 2nd thoughts about trading Kobe to Lakers

Kobe Bryant was a rare breed of superstar, as he spent his entire 20-year playing career with one team.

Yet, according to one former Los Angeles Lakers executive who worked to acquire Bryant after the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets - who originally drafted him - almost changed their minds about the trade that would ultimately transform the NBA landscape.

"There was a strong possibility then that it might not happen," Mitch Kupchak, who was then the Lakers assistant general manager, told the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell. "There was such excitement around the pick that Charlotte actually didn't want to go through with the deal."

Kupchak, coincidentally, now serves as the Hornets' general manager 24 years later.

He and then-Lakers GM Jerry West had a deal in place with the Hornets prior to the draft that was contingent on Bryant falling to the 13th pick, which Charlotte owned. Two weeks after the draft, Bryant officially became a Laker in exchange for veteran center Vlade Divac.

Kupchak says obstacles persisted, however.

"There was a time there, whether it was Vlade (threatening to retire), or just pressure on the franchise, where the deal was actually in jeopardy," he said.

Bryant was 17 at the time and had just graduated from high school as a prep star in suburban Philadelphia. His then-agent, Arn Tellem, said last year that the goal all along was to get Bryant to Los Angeles and that his only real concern was the New Jersey Nets selecting him at No. 8.

"It was a calculated gamble," Tellem said. "I remember meeting with (Nets coach and GM) John Calipari and John Nash, pressing them not to take him if he fell. I left not knowing if they would pass. I thought they would pass but didn't know."

Bryant, his daughter, and seven others died in a Los Angeles County helicopter crash Sunday.