Kobe Bryant is synonymous with the Los Angeles Lakers, and the image of him wearing another team’s uniform seems both implausible and absurd, but it almost happened.
In fact, it took the intervention of another Lakers legend to keep Kobe Bryant in the Purple and Gold.
NBA Hall-of-Famer Jerry West, a 14-time All-Star, an NBA champion and a Finals MVP, said he talked Bryant out of leaving the Lakers in free agency and joining the Western Conference rival Memphis Grizzlies.
West made the comments while appearing on Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George’s podcast, Podcast P with Paul George.
West is a current advisor to the Clippers, but had a decades-long post-playing career with the Lakers as a member of the team’s front office. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest roster builders in NBA history and has won eight NBA Championships as an executive.
He described the almost-signing that would’ve changed the course of Lakers history, which he said was discussed in a hotel room in Orange County with Bryant and his then-manager and current Lakers general manager, Rob Pelinka.
“He became a free agent,” West recalled. “He said he wanted to come to Memphis and play basketball. And I looked at him, I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And he said no, and I said, ‘Kobe, no, no. You know, it’s just you belong somewhere out [in California].'”
From 2002 to 2007, West worked as an executive with the Grizzlies, and during one of Bryant’s well-publicized moments of disenfranchisement with the Lakers, he apparently sought out West to guide him through the next chapter of his career.
“Even though he would have never played there, I just wanted to reassure him that, ‘don’t feel like you have any obligation with me or the Grizzlies to play here,'” West said.
West was the man responsible for the Lakers selecting Bryant out of high school with the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft after acquiring his rights in a trade involving center Vlade Divac.
In the years that followed, West said the two developed more of a father-son relationship, rather than a boss-employee dynamic, often sharing dinners at West’s home and bouncing ideas off one another.
Even though adding one of the league’s biggest stars to a franchise in its infancy would’ve been considered one of the greatest free agency coups in sports history, West admitted he couldn’t see Bryant happy as a member of the Grizzlies and suggested he remain with the team that made him an NBA icon.
“He would have never played there, it wasn’t gonna happen,” West said.
Three years after the NBA legend’s shocking death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, West fondly remembers Bryant, who he said transcended sports.
“I had a wonderful relationship with him,” West said. “Forget as a basketball player. I loved what he stood for, his commitment to excellence, he wasn’t afraid of failing. Once you get afraid of failing, you’re going to fail. He was not afraid.”
In the career-spanning conversation with George, West also discussed his traumatic upbringing, the highs and lows of his decadeslong career, and his “unofficial” designation as the NBA’s logo.
The silhouette used in the league’s official logo is widely believed to have been inspired by West, which league officials have never officially confirmed. To this day, West is often referred to as “The Logo.”
“If that’s me, I’m flattered. That’s always my response,” Wes said, but added he doesn’t like to talk about it.