Lakers' Bryant calls out Hornets for having 'no use for me' 18 years ago

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant created a buzz on Tuesday when he Tweeted this bit of history that the Charlotte Hornets are no doubt still kicking themselves about. 

The Hornets agreed to a predraft trade with the Lakers in 1996 and selected a 17-year-old Bryant 13th overall before swapping him for center Vlade Divac. 

"When you look back at it, when we made that trade, here was a 17-year-old kid who had played in high school," Bob Bass, the Hornets' executive vice president of basketball operations at the time told John Delong of the Winston-Salem Journal. 

"Twelve other teams passed on him. We made a decision to win now and not later. We had Dave Cowens as our first-year coach, and I wanted to give him a chance to win. I knew if we got Divac in here, we'd win. I didn't feel the same about Bryant. Without Divac, I thought we might have won 25 games."

The Hornets would go on to win 54 games in their first season with Divac averaging 12.6 points and nine rebounds, but that's still a far cry for Bryant's Hall of Fame career.