Kobe Bryant in something other than the iconic purple and gold? Not in our wildest imagination. But for a brief second in 1996, everyone almost thought that would be the case. It was, however, a testament to Jerry West’s genius mind. July 11 marked 28 years since the Charlotte Hornets traded high school prospect, Kobe Bryant, to the Los Angeles Lakers. The late Mr Logo moved pieces to get championship-winning assets in Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant together. As much as Shaq acknowledges West was the linchpin, he shared in the credit on The Big Podcast.

When Penny Hardaway was on the show, Shaq went on about how he left their partnership and Orlando on bitter terms. But in the end, he acknowledged those sacrifices were necessary. As Adam Lefkoe put it, we wouldn’t have had the “Shaq and Kobe Lakers” if O’Neal hadn’t made that difficult decision.

“If I don’t go there, ol’ boy not a Laker anyway,” Shaquille O’Neal stated on The Big Podcast. He means Kobe Bryant and explicitly states, “If I don’t go there, no, he’s in Charlotte.” He’s right on that front.

Shaq entered free agency in 1996 because Orlando wouldn’t offer him the salary hike he deserved. Even his then-agent, Leonard Armato, told EssentiallySports exclusively, that Shaq told him to shop offers from other teams. Then Lakers GM, Jerry West, initially came in with a $95 million offer but Armato told him Shaq wouldn’t consider something below the $105 million Alonzo Mourning signed that year.

Armato’s gamble paid off when West called the next day with a $120 million offer. Shaq once said that West was such a genius, that he saw the problem in the Charlotte roster and used it to orchestrate a deal that set up the Lakers dynasty.

The various sides of the Kobe Bryant-Hornets story

Charlotte lost Mourning to Miami and $105 million in the summer of ’96. That’s when West swooped in. He traded then Lakers center, Vlade Divac to Charlotte to clear up cap space and the center position for Shaq. In exchange, they had to use their draft pick to get him Kobe Bryant.

On July 11, 2014, Bryant, in his signature humor, narrated his version of the tale on Twitter. “On this day 18yrs ago the hornets told me right after they drafted me that they had no use for me and were going to trade me #thanku #lakers.”

West would meet Shaquille O’Neal and Armato in Atlanta during the Olympics to convince O’Neal he had real championship chances with Bryant. That’s how the Lakers dynasty was created. In the span of five years, they reached four Finals, winning the NBA’s last three-peat in 2000-02.

Over the years, Shaq, Bryant, West, and even the Hornets have given their own versions of the trade that sent Kobe to the Lakers. What remains consistent is Shaq’s big takeaway from this episode, “Everything happens for a reason.”