 With the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets select Kobe Bryant from Lower Marion High School in Pennsylvania. In 1996, the Charlotte Hornets made a huge mistake and missed out on Kobe Bryant, a franchise player and a five-time NBA champion. Imagine if the Charlotte Hornets actually got Kobe Bryant and kept him in the 1996 NBA Draft. So in 1996, the newly-located Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with their 13th pick. They would eventually trade his draft rights away for Lakers centre, Vlade Divac. Today, it's easy to say that the Hornets obviously would never have done this deal if they knew that they'd be getting an MVP, a five-time champion and one of the greatest of all time. But at the time, it actually did make sense after they did lose Charlotte Hornets own Alonzo Morning to the Miami Heat. Getting an NBA franchise in 1988, the Hornets didn't go long until they became one of the most popular teams in the NBA. In fact, in the 1996-97 season, the Charlotte Hornets ranked first in the league in attendance. Prior to the 1996-97 season, the Hornets did have an obvious need for a centre, trading away star big man Alonzo Morning the season before to the Miami Heat and Larry Johnson was traded away to the New York Knicks who gave up Anthony Mason. The 1996-97 season would be played with Grieger in the middle and Mason at power forward. These guys were reasonably decent players, but nothing crazy. Remember at this point in time, Kobe wasn't anything crazy either. He was just finding his steps in the NBA as an 18-year-old. It took him a little bit longer to develop in Charlotte as he didn't have any great mentors at the time. The Charlotte Hornets didn't have any draft pick in 1997, but in 1998 they selected Ricky Davis. Davis would have a decent career for the Charlotte Hornets, but actually if the Hornets had Kobe Bryant they don't need another shooting guard, so they actually don't select Ricky Davis. They trade him away to the Bucks. Originally the Bucks trade Durk and Whiskey to the Dallas Mavericks for Robert Trailer in the 1998 NBA season. Trailer turned out to be one of the biggest busts in NBA history and the trade was claimed to be one of the worst that the NBA has ever seen. In this scenario, it was actually a trade that would send Durk to Charlotte for Ricky Davis and a future second round pick. So in the end it wasn't as bad for the Bucks and we all know what Durk becomes for the Hornets. And then in the perfect world of what could have been, the Hornets would be set with their first round pick in the 1999 NBA season. With the third pick in the 1999 NBA draft, the Charlotte Hornets select Baron Davis from UCLA. Who actually was point guard Baron Davis. And they would also manage to acquire an original teammate of Kobe Bryant, his name was Eddie Jones. He got traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Glenn Rice, JR Reit and BJ Armstrong on March 10th, 1999. Jones became a mentor for Kobe Bryant. So Hornets fans, your lineup looked like this for the 1999-2000 season. At the one, Baron Davis. At the two, Kobe Bryant. At the three, Eddie Jones. At the four, Anthony Mason. And at the five, Durk and Whiskey. Yes, Durk did play at the five for the Hornets. Of course, this team was still very young, as Baron Davis had just entered the league as a rookie. Kobe was only averaging around 22.5 points per game, and Durk was averaging around 17 points per game. Nothing spectacular. For both of these players though, it was about one year before they were starting to become superstars of the league and create a deadly one-two punch. The Hornets finished with a record of 15-32 in the year 2000, which tied for third seed with the New York Knicks. But they somehow managed to lose in the first round to a 76ers team led by guard, Alan Arverson. This absolutely fired Kobe Bryant up and pretty much kickstarted his whole career to greatness. In terms of other notable changes and things that actually did stay the same in the year 2000, while Vince Carter still stole the show at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Shaq was named league NBA MVP, and the defensive player of the year went to former Charlotte Hornet and Lonzo Morning, who was playing for the Miami Heat. Tracy McGrady became a free agent because he disliked his secondary role playing behind Vince Carter in Toronto. Shaq and his Lakers won the NBA Championship, even without Kobe. Shaq had completely dominated and carried everyone that year. He was doing okay winning without Kobe. He added a championship and an MVP that season. But a lot happens in the year 2001. Remember how I told you Tracy McGrady had become a free agent? Well, with no Kobe on the Lakers, they were in huge need of a shooting guard. And McGrady, he fit the role perfectly. He would team up with Shaq. What? Even though they would just won the NBA Championship in the year 2000. The Lakers management didn't think that Shaq would carry them again. So team act, he was a Laker. But the main event that happened that year was that Michael Jordan, the greatest player of all time, and the man that Kobe looked up to, came out of retirement for about the tenth time. But he announced that he was playing for the Washington Wizards. Immediately, Kobe had demanded a trade to the Washington Wizards in the 2001 season, since he wanted to play with Jordan. But the two teams couldn't negotiate a trade to send Kobe Bryant to the Washington Wizards. Instead, the Hornets would manage the trade to get an aging 38-year-old Patrick Ewing. He didn't do much for the Hornets at all. And unfortunately, they would actually also lose Eddie Jones to the Miami Heat. But in that trade, they would actually gain Jermaine Mashburn. So in 2001, the Hornets had a lineup of Baron Davis, Kobe Bryant, Jermaine Mashburn, Dirk Nowitzki, and Patrick Ewing at center. So now with the new lineup, Dirk Nowitzki would actually play the four, and play his true position at power forward. But the Hornets also still had some pretty solid bench players. Anthony Mason and two other players that would clearly pass their prime in Otis Thorpe and Hershey Hawkins. That season, the Hornets made it to the NBA finals, but lost to the Lakers who won the championship. McGrady won the finals MVP, and Allen Iverson won the season MVP. In 2002, Anthony Mason became upset coming off the bench, and so he was traded to the Washington Wizards for 23-year-old Brendan Haywood. He would start as Patrick Ewing would retire and become an assistant coach in Charlotte. But the 2002 season as a whole was the year that Kobe and Dirk stepped up to the plate and really delivered. They finished with a record of 62-20 and beat Shaq and T-Mac in the NBA finals to actually win the championship. Kobe and Dirk had won their first ring at age 24. They were looking great for the future. In fact, they were looking so good that they dominated the league together for three seasons straight, and had managed a three-peat, winning in 0-2, 0-3, and 0-4. There were some notable changes during that time as well. Tim Duncan was MVP in 0-2, Kobe in 0-3, and Shaq in 0-4. The Hornets had relocated to New Orleans, and LeBron Wade Bosch and Mello had been drafted in the 2003 NBA draft. But the Pistons weren't stupid this time. They would select Carmelo Anthony. The Detroit Pistons select Carmelo Anthony. You done messed up, Pistons. You done messed up! In 2004, the Hornets didn't draft Chris Paul, as they were pretty good with Kobe and Dirk. But after two disappointing seasons in 0-5 and 0-6, the Spurs had won the championship and Kobe won the MVP in 0-5. And in 0-6, the Heat won the championship. Yeah, Shaq still left the Lakers to join the Heat, but Nash won the MVP in the 0-6 season. The Hornets would finish around 6 in the Western Conference. The Charlotte Hornets realized it was time that they shook up the roster, but they still kept the main two players in Kobe and Dirk. Even after many trade rumors, that Kobe Bryant might join the Chicago Bulls. But he decided to stay with the Hornets, as he realized it would benefit him and Dirk if they stayed together to win some more championships. But during the last few seasons, they'd lost Baron Davis to the Warriors, Jamal Mashburn to retirement, and Brendan Haywood to free agency. So in 2007, the new roster would look like this. At the one, Raymond Felton. At the two, Kobe Bryant. At the three, Wilson Chandler. At the four, Dirk and Whiskey, and Tyson Chandler would join the Hornets a little bit earlier. This new roster would benefit both Kobe and Dirk, but more so Dirk, as Tyson Chandler would be able to grab all those rebounds, which allowed Dirk to stretch the floor a little bit. Dirk would benefit extremely well, and he would actually win the 2007 NBA MVP award. And the Hornets would go on to win the NBA championship, beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It finally looked like the Hornets were going to go back to back to back once again, like they did in 0-2, 0-3 and 0-4. In 2008, Kobe had won the MVP. But sadly, he would be played with injuries during the playoffs, and the Hornets would be kicked out early, and the Celtics would beat the Spurs in the NBA finals. In 2009, the Hornets didn't play so well either. It seemed like they lost all rhythm and all team chemistry that they had in 2007. LeBron was taking over the league already, winning his first NBA MVP. Will this be the end for the Hornets? Come on now, they got Kobe Bryant. Of course not. So in 2010 and 2011, the Hornets would redeem themselves and win back-to-back championships. But the Hornets with both Kobe and Dirk getting older and passing over the age of 30, this was the end of their streak. And this was around the time when the big three happened in Miami, and a new big three would be arising in Oklahoma, along with the aging San Antonio Spurs who didn't look like they were aging at all. Altogether, Kobe would have brought six NBA championships to Charlotte, along with three MVPs. Dirk would add one MVP. Miller would have had a successful career in Detroit, but still eventually moved to the New York Knicks. Davis would have never played with Kobe and Dirk. He would actually end up getting drafted to the Charlotte Bobcats, somehow, some way. Kobe and Shaq wouldn't be compared to as much as they are today, both would have just been successful NBA Hall of Famers. Nash wouldn't have won two MVPs, he only would have won one, and the Pistons and Spurs would have missed out on a few championships. Tracy McGrady would actually be an NBA champion. Later down the road, Jordan would become the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, and Kobe would become the owner of the Charlotte Hornets. They still had that competitive drive. So in the 1996 NBA draft, the Hornets missed out on one of the greatest players of all time, trading Kobe Bryant away. And sadly, this would affect him in many ways. I really hope you guys enjoyed this episode. If you did, it'd be awesome if you guys could definitely leave a like on the video, and subscribe if you're new to the channel, but definitely post down in the comment section below. Number one, what you thought of this video? Like, what do you reckon would have happened if Kobe Bryant never got traded to the Los Angeles Lakers? How many championships he would have won? How many MVPs and all that good stuff? The thing is though, you could definitely make your point and argue the point that Kobe probably wouldn't have won as many championships with Dirk as he would have won with Shaq if the two stayed together. So I mean, definitely two different players with Shaq and with Dirk. One plays with dominance in the paint. The other one plays with shooting abilities as a pigment. So you've got two different players right there. You don't know what's going to happen where if Dirk and Kobe would mesh together well or if Shaq and Kobe would have meshed together better. I mean, nobody knows what's actually going to happen, but yeah, I had the scenario winning Kobe his sixth ring, taming him up with the greats like Michael Jordan and all them good guys, but I do hope you guys did enjoy the episode. Definitely comment down below also what is scenario would you like to see for the next episode of this series and if you see somebody else comment a really good idea for what is scenario that you'd like to see definitely give their comment a like so it lets me know which one is scenario you guys would like to see. But yeah, I'm coming up with more videos really, really soon for you guys. More what-ifs, more mildly, you know, rebuilds, and a whole bunch of other videos. A 40K subscriber special is going to come out really, really soon. I'm working on that one for you guys and you guys have been showing so much support. I mean, we've already got like I think 41K already, so that's pretty crazy, but yeah man, I want to thank all you guys for all the love and support that you guys show in every video. So definitely if you guys want to see the next one, smash that like button, subscribe to the channel if you're new and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.