The Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets have been trade partners five times.
The Los Angeles Lakers have made deals with every team but one in the NBA (the Minnesota Timberwolves) and in the latest series here at Lake Show Life we are diving into the best trade that the franchise has made with every other NBA franchise.
Today, it is the Charlotte Hornets, who are currently owned by Michael Jordan, and last did business with the Lakers in 2009. The first time the two parties did business was in 1996.
Of the five trades between the two sides, there is one trade that is so noticeably better than the rest as it is one of, if not the, greatest trade in Lakers’ history.
Los Angeles Lakers’ best ever trade with the Charlotte Hornets:
The Los Angeles Lakers took the risk that 13 other teams (including the Charlotte Hornets) were not willing to take in the 1996 NBA Draft; in return, the Lakers netted arguably the best player in franchise history, Kobe Bryant.
This looks like a highway robbery when you are just looking at the names involved. However, at the time, the Lakers were looking to move on from Divac to make room for Shaquille O’Neal and the Hornets were the team to bite and agreed to trade the 13th pick in the draft to the Lakers before draft day.
It was the Lakers’ decision to draft Bryant, it was not the Hornets trading the guy they just chose to draft and the Lakers made the right decision. Taking a 17-year-old guard out of high school definitely was a risk, but it was a risk that paid off big time.
Divac had a great career and is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame due to his contributions to the international scene, but he certainly was not Kobe Bryant and was not even close.
This trade was such a runaway favorite but there have been some other notable trades between the two teams. Three years later the Lakers traded fan-favorite Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell to Charlotte for Glen Rice, J.R. Reid and B.J. Armstrong (who never played in LA).
This move was a big deal as they not only parted ways with an all-star fan-favorite in Jones but received a really solid player in return in Rice and also transitioned from Jones to Bryant being the full-time starting two-guard.
The last trade between the two teams was in February 2009, when the Lakers added Shannon Brown. Brown had a tangible role in the 2009-10 title-winning season, averaging over 20 minutes per game off the bench.
It still does not even come close, though, as this might be the best trade in Los Angeles Lakers history.