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“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

Tonoy Sengupta
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"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.

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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?

Also Read: “Tracy McGrady had all the skills and all the athleticism”: When Kobe Bryant called the Rockets legend “the toughest player” he ever had to play against

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 5th and 6th 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.

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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

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

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Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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