Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest scorers of all-time.  He has brought titles to Los Angeles and he is constantly compared to the great Michael Jordan. However, while he has always played with the Lakers – people often forget that he was drafted by another team.

It was on this day, June 26th, 1996, that the Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with the 13th pick of the NBA draft.  On that same day, the Hornets traded Bryant to the Lakers for Vlade Divac.

While Vlade Divac went on to have a solid career – Kobe is one of the best to ever play the game.  The trade is considered by many to be one of the worst of all-time. And while the Hornets made a great pick when they selected Kobe Bryant straight out of high school with the 13th pick, they made a mistake to trade him so quickly.  If they would have just held onto him for one or two seasons, that probably would have discovered his potential, and as a result, their franchise would have enjoyed a ton of success over the past 15 seasons.