Kobe Bryant gave up wanting to get $100 million from the Clippers and stay a Los Angeles Lakers after talking to one man.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal had been together for 8 years and counting before the Los Angeles Lakers decided it was time to face the facts: the two could not be on the same team together. After 3 straight championships from 2000-02, both Kobe and Shaq believed themselves to be the ‘alpha dog’ and weren’t anywhere close to relinquishing that status.
In the summer of 2004, after losing 4-1 to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, Jerry Buss and the Lakers had a tough decision to make. Do they keep the younger Kobe and build around a guard or do they put theirs chips in 12-year veteran, Shaquille O’Neal, and deal away the best offensive perimeter player in the league (Tracy McGrady may disagree with that statement)?
The decision was difficult as Buss had headed both acquisitions of Kobe Bryant and ‘The Big Aristotle’ exactly 8 years ago in 1996. According to Jackie MacMullan, the man who recruited Magic Johnson to the Lakers checked himself into a hospital after the dealings regarding Shaq’s move from Orlando to LA.
Of course, Jerry Buss was also the one who spearheaded the trade between the Hornets and the Lakers, acquiring Bryant while dealing away an established center in Vlade Divac.
Also read: Dwyane Wade thought Kobe Bryant was a ‘Psycho’ after a phone call post the 2012 All-Star Game
Kobe Bryant was almost a Clipper.
That tumultuous summer of ‘04 saw Kobe Bryant contemplating his future with the Lakers. In fact, he actually didn’t want to leave Los Angeles but luckily for him, the Clippers were right next door. So, in that summer, he put in an official trade request to the Clips.
“The deal was basically done,” said Ralph Lawler, the man who had been the voice of the Clippers for 40 years. The connection between them and Bryant ran deep as his father, Joe ‘Jelly Bean’ had played for the Clippers as well. They had also missed out on getting Bryant in the ‘96 Draft, picking Lorenzen Wright with the 7th overall pick (Clips management berated the recruitment staff for trying to draft a 17 y/o).
Donald Sterling, after a meeting had finished between Clips management and Kobe, saw the 6’6 guard walking down the hallways. According to multiple sources, the 3x champ said to Sterling, ‘Don’t worry, I’m a Clipper’.
He even admitted during a press con in 2004 that he saw himself playing for the Clippers. Unfortunately for them, one man swayed the favor in the purple and gold’s favor and that man was the same individual who got Kobe Bryant onto the Lakers in the first place: Jerry Buss.
“At the end of the day, Jerry Buss trumped it all,” said Bryant. So, instead of signing the $100 million+ offer sheet from the Clips that extended to 6 years, he signed a 7 year/ $136 million with the team that drafted him.
Also read: Kobe Bryant’s attitude to win 2 stuffed $6 Blue Elephants gave early glimpses of his Mamba Mentality
