Fansided

NBA Draft: Every NBA team’s worst draft pick

By David Rouben

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 27: Anthony Bennett of UNLV poses for a photo with NBA Commissioner David Stern after Bennett was drafted
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 27: Anthony Bennett of UNLV poses for a photo with NBA Commissioner David Stern after Bennett was drafted /
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Dec 28, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) waves to the crowd while leaving the court after the game against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. The Hornets won 108-98. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 28, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) waves to the crowd while leaving the court after the game against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. The Hornets won 108-98. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Charlotte Hornets – Kobe Bryant (1996)

The Dallas Mavericks, and 11 other teams, may have passed up on Kobe Bryant at the draft, but Charlotte literally had him then let him go. According to Bryant’s agent, however, there was no chance he was going to play for the Hornets and that they had agreed in principle to a trade with the Lakers before they had even made the pick.

Bryant was a very hyped prospect heading into the draft, yet if the Hornets knew how good Kobe was going to become, they likely wouldn’t have agreed to turn him over. Of course, cap restrictions and team salaries was always going to make it hard for the Hornets to keep Kobe, and he likely would’ve gotten his way and moved to LA at some point, but it’s hard for Hornets fans not to imagine what could’ve been.

At the very least, they could’ve gotten a better return package for Kobe than Vlade Divac, even though a publication had called the move the “best in Hornets history”:

Divac had given the Lakers some good years, but he was never going to fill Kobe’s shoes. Divac’s most productive season with the Hornets was the first year in which he averaged 12.6 points and played all but one game, but the Hornets didn’t care for him enough to re-sign him and they let him join the Kings. Kobe had eclipsed that average by his second season with the Lakers, and he never looked back from there.

Even though every team he visited during his farewell tour did something special, there was an added significance of Kobe’s visit to Charlotte. We’ll never know how good the Hornets could’ve been had they held onto their prized pick.

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