When the Los Angeles Lakers traded center Vlade Divac for the draft rights to a 17-year-old named Kobe Bryant in 1996, few outside of team executive Jerry West could have envisioned it as a franchise-changing moment.
At the time, most figured it was merely a salary dump to free enough cap space to sign Shaquille O’Neal, and that L.A. was gambling on the Philadelphia-area native.
As a rookie, Bryant was played inconsistently by head coach Del Harris. He didn’t play in the team’s season opener, and he went scoreless in its second game versus the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But on Nov. 5, 1996, Bryant scored his first career point on a free throw, and he did so in what some refer to as the Mecca of Basketball: Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1 of 33,643.
Today marks the 24th anniversary of Kobe's first points. #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/TuWEIyrqjW
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 5, 2020
Little did anyone know at the time the thrills and the roller coaster ride Lakers fans were in for over the next two decades.
