“We can’t draft you Kobe Bryant! People will think we’re a joke!”: When Lakers legend laughed at Clippers on live television for passing on him

LA Lakers Kobe Bryant once hilariously rubbed some serious salt in the 1996 draft wound of the LA Clippers

We don’t appreciate enough just how insane Kobe Bryant was.

For starters, this man entered the league at 17-years-old and almost immediately acclimatized to the league. Then, during his rookie season, not only ask for crunch time shots but then proceed to confidently air-ball each and every one of them.

At the time, most fans were probably thinking, ‘Did this kid just do that?! Is he insane?!”. They had no idea.

Over the years, Kobe went from promising to rising fast. From an All-Star to a full-blown superstar. And from that to one of the greatest players to ever do it.

Why do we tell you this? Well, because the LA Clippers are probably grumbling to this day about the fact that nobody in their front office had the foresight to see even a fraction of this glowing future.

What do we mean, you ask? Well then, let’s get into it, shall we?

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The LA Clippers passed on drafting Kobe Bryant because they thought they wouldn’t be taken seriously

Plenty of teams have made draft-day mistakes in the past.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, with the 5^th and 6^th pick, drafted Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio when Stephen Curry was still available. The Detroit Pistons drafted Darko Milicic when Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony were still on the board. And, as much as it may incense fans of the franchise when the Golden State Warriors drafted James Wiseman when LaMelo Ball was somehow still up for the taking.

These are horrible draft mistakes. But, even they aren’t as bad as what the LA Clippers did during the 1996 NBA Draft. Take a look at Kobe Bryant explaining it all below.

The Clippers would go on to pass on Kobe and draft… Lorenzen Wright.

We won’t lie. The Clips are doing better than usual today. But, if not for this stupid move, god knows what their history and legacy could have been.

Instead, we now remember Kobe Bryant as the greatest Laker of all time.

Also Read: ‘When I was in the club, Kobe Bryant was in the gym’: Allen Iverson highlights why he fell short of the Lakers legend