Since the 1999-2000 season, the Crypto.com Arena was the NBA’s only two-team arena. Before the season starts, the Clippers will move into the Intuit Dome, their new $2 billion arena in Inglewood. Historically, the Lakers have been far better, in terms of wins and rings and did you know the Clippers had the chance to have Kobe Bryant to be part of their franchise twice? But despite the Purple and Gold team’s success, former Clippers stars are proud of the cultural impact their team had.

“Those Clippers, Quentin Richardson told me, embraced the fact that LA was the Lakers’ city. ‘We’re the little brothers in the town because Shaq and Kobe are in the midst of a three-peat,'” current Clippers star Terance Mann spoke to GQ ahead of the new season. That was not the only thing Richardson told Mann. “He recalled. ‘We took pride in still carving out our own little corner of the town that was rocking with us.‘”

The 28-year-old also recalled the conversation he had with another former Clippers star. “As Darius Miles reminded me, their Clippers were beloved in part because the team engaged with the town in a unique way. ‘We used to be at places where you would never see a Lakers player.‘” As per Mann, Miles informed him that the Clippers would do most of the community work, plus would appear at more social gatherings than the Lakers superstars like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.

“He said, ‘We was doing most of our community work in the projects, we used to be at the mall all the time. We used to be at high school games, we used to be at colleges. The Lakers, you’d just see them on TV—you really didn’t see them out.’” The Clippers have enjoyed near-capacity crowds for almost every home game since 2011, boasting an impressive sellout streak that extended into the 2016-17 season, ranking sixth longest in the league at the time. So, the team surely connected with the fans despite no title celebration.

Even last year’s attendance report from ESPN states that the Clippers had marginally better averages during home games. The Lakers had 18,903 in 42 home games, while their cross-town rivals were ahead with 18,945 in 41 home games. But the scenario and history could have changed if Kobe Bryant played for the Lob Angeles.

Kobe Bryant was almost part of the cross-town rivals

On the Jimmy Kimmel Show, many years ago, Kobe Bryant revealed that he did the workout with the Clippers. Before his draft, the team executive even stated, “You know this is the best workout we’ve ever seen.” Yet, they refused to draft Kobe for a peculiar reason. “They (Clippers) said, well, we wanna turn things around with our organization, and we felt like if we drafted a 17-year-old kid, then the City of Los Angeles wants to take us seriously.”

A generational what-if story, if they had picked Kobe Bryant in the draft. However, that was not their only chance. In the summer of 2004, it was almost a guarantee that a trade would happen. The former Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2019. “This is an exact quote that I’ve had repeated to me by multiple people: [Bryant] said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m a Clipper.‘”

Lawler continued, “So he walked out the door and [the Clippers] are all high-fiving each other thinking, ‘By God, we’ve done it.‘” But various reports indicate that Jerry West called Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers legend remained with the team.