Fansided

Worst moment in each NBA franchise’s history

By Brad Rowland

Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan unveils the new Charlotte Hornets logo at halftime during the game against the Utah Jazz at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports
Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan unveils the new Charlotte Hornets logo at halftime during the game against the Utah Jazz at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports /
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Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) before the game against the Toronto Raptors at Citizens Business Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) before the game against the Toronto Raptors at Citizens Business Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

New Orleans Pelicans – Trading Kobe Bryant

This is pretty unfair, and yet, completely justified in the minds of long-time Hornets (er, Pelicans) fans.

Prior to the 1997 NBA season, absolutely no one predicted that Kobe Bean Bryant would become one of the 20 greatest players in the history of the league. With that in mind, the Charlotte Hornets (which existed prior to the current incarnation of the New Orleans Pelicans) traded away the rights to the former Lower Merion High School star, and in return, the team acquired talented big man Vlade Divac from the Los Angeles Lakers.

The rest, as they say, is history, as Bryant fought through a slow start in Los Angeles to become a first-ballot Hall of Fame player and multiple-time NBA champion. Divac played only two seasons in Charlotte, averaging 11.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and while he was a quality NBA player for a long period of time with the Sacramento Kings later, the trade was certainly a failure on the part of the Hornets/Pelicans organization.

Kobe Bryant operating outside of Los Angeles is something that NBA fans can’t even picture at this point, but it is certainly crazy to picture him in a New Orleans Pelicans uniform rather than the purple and gold of the Lakers. Still, fans of the original Hornets lament this trade and the overall decision-making process to this day, and if Bryant had arrived in Charlotte, the team may never have relocated to New Orleans in the first place.

Next: New York Knicks

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