It was the year 1996 and the league was about to witness a watershed event that would go on to change its landscape. Kobe Bryant was available in the NBA Draft after he decided to skip college and go pro after high school. However, the Los Angeles Lakers management at the time didn’t even consider drafting him as it was almost obvious that the then-New Jersey Nets would go on to pick the 17-year-old guard. But something prompted the Lakers franchise and Jerry West to change their minds.
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Arn Tellem, who represented the Mamba at that time, was fascinated by the big market LA franchise that had a legendary history in the NBA. ‘Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty’ by Jeff Pearlman, gives an interesting insight into the whole story going into the Draft and how Jerry West became determined to pick Bryant despite having the 24th overall pick.
Tellem asked the Lakers to host the youngster for a workout session and then take their final decision. The legendary guard accepted the offer and the Mamba got just what he wanted, an opportunity. The stage was set when “Bryant was in town for a commercial shoot, and he arrived at the Inglewood YMCA at the same time as Dontae’ Jones, the Mississippi State forward who had recently led the Bulldogs to the Final Four.”
Jones was an upcoming talent who had already proven his worth in college basketball. However, the then-Mississippi State forward looked nothing but a “bowl of melted ice cream” during the 1v1 workout session with Kobe. “Bryant and Jones played a series of one-on-one games that left the college senior gasping for breath,” Pearlman wrote. This is exactly when West knew that the high schooler was something different.
Later, Jones revealed that the “17-year-old could do all the things he was even attempting to do,” even though Kobe never played in college. Jerry West was even more spellbound after witnessing what he would later deem the greatest workout he’d ever seen. Pearlman, in his book, explained when the Logo was awestruck by the 17-year-old Kobe,
“Oh my God,” West recalled. “You have to be kidding me. No disrespect to anyone, but as soon as I saw him it was clear this was a complete no-brainer. I swear to God, I would have taken him with the No. 1 pick in the draft over Allen Iverson. He was that good.”
After witnessing the Mamba’s skills firsthand, on the court, West was convinced that he wanted Kobe to join the Lakers. Even though, the franchise “was looking for help-now talent,” West was sure that Kobe was the missing key and wanted him even before the first-overall pick of that year, Allen Iverson. And this was not just a temporary feeling as both Kobe and West went on to share a cordial relationship from there on.
Despite working out with the Nets numerous times, Kobe was eventually selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets. However, West had immediately traded for him in what would become one of the greatest moves in NBA history.
Jerry West once stopped Kobe Bryant from joining the Memphis Grizzlies
The former Lakers general manager brought the Mamba to LA and always believed that he belonged there. In 2004, even when West was with Memphis, Kobe was pondering over his options after the Lakers were handed a brutal defeat by the Pistons in the 2003-04 NBA Finals.
And even though West accepted “that might have been tampering,” he pushed the legendary guard away from Memphis. Beyond professional gains, it was the homely bond between the two Lakers legends that prompted him to do so. As West described,
“But I didn’t look at it as tampering because he was at our house all the time. He ate at my house all the time. I felt more like a father figure with him. I had a wonderful relationship with him.”
The first-ever Finals MVP was evidently fond of the 2008 league MVP due to his sheer dedication and his obsession with excellence. And there would have been no one better to guide and mentor the Mamba to the peaks of his career. A legend recognized another legend and the rest is history!
