There’s a certain kind of honesty that only arrives with the benefit of time. Former Los Angeles Lakers’ center Vlade Divac delivered that honesty recently when he said:
“When I became a GM, I would trade myself for Kobe Bryant.”
He said it with a grin in Amazon Prime’s new documentary Jerry West: The Logo, and the line lands like a punchline wrapped around two decades of basketball truth.
Back in 1996, Divac was a beloved center for the Lakers. But general manager Jerry West saw something in a skinny, unproven, and fearless 17-year-old kid from Philadelphia named Kobe Bryant.
West famously worked Bryant out in Los Angeles against Michael Cooper and he walked out of the gym that day convinced he’d seen the future face of the NBA.
That’s why on Draft Day he decided to ship out Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for the teenager who hadn’t played a single professional minute of basketball yet.
“Jerry saw it, I didn’t,” said former Lakers’ athletic trainer Gary Vitti in the documentary. “I saw a 17-year-old kid trying to imitate Michael Jordan. But he wasn’t Michael Jordan.”
Divac didn’t want to go to Charlotte and he fought it. He felt blindsided by the trade and had every right.
“If you’re going to make a trade like that, you better be right,” said former Lakers guard and coach Byron Scott in the documentary.
Thankfully for West, he was right.
Bryant became a superstar and one of the greatest players in NBA history. He won five championships and became a global icon.
Divac, years later as general manager of the Sacramento Kings, now sees it clearly. The irony isn’t lost on him.
“Back then I was upset and I didn’t like it,” said Divac in the doc. “Bu I trusted Jerry that he saw something nobody had seen before. He did a good decision.”
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