- 5,879
- 1,857
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2002
From the newly released ESPN Jerry West book by Roland Lazenby...
First West had to take the huge gamble of trading veteran center Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for their thirteenth pick in the draft. Then he learned that John Calipari, the coach of the New Jersey Nets, planned to take [Kobe] Bryant with the eighth pick before the Lakers could snare him at thirteen.
“Jerry wanted Kobe, so he basically called up and talked Cal out of drafting Kobe,