NBA-ийн домогт тоглогч Коби Брайант 2004 оны зун чөлөөт агентын хувиар Лос Анжелес Клипперс багтай нэгдэхэд тун ойрхон байсан ч эцсийн мөчид Лос Анжелес Лэйкерсдээ үлдэх шийдвэр гаргасан байдаг.
2004 оны зун 25 настай Коби Брайант анх удаа Лэйкерсээс явах талаар нухацтай судалж байв. Тухайн үед Лэйкерс NBA Finals-д Детройт Пистонст хожигдож, Фил Жэксон багаа орхин, Коби Брайант болон Шакил О’Нил нарын харилцаа хурцадмал байдалтай байсан юм. Лос Анжелес Клипперсийн удирдлагуудтай уулзсаны дараа Брайант тэдэнд амаар амлалт өгсөн гэж тус багийнхан итгэж байсан бөгөөд санхүүгийн хувьд ч 6 жилийн хугацаанд 100-106 сая орчим долларын санал хүлээн авахад бэлэн байв.
Гэсэн хэдий ч Лэйкерсийн эзэн Жерри Басс Европоос холбогдож, багийг түүний эргэн тойронд хүчтэй бүрэлдэхүүнээр дахин байгуулахаа амласан нь нөхцөл байдлыг бүрэн өөрчилжээ. Брайант хожим нь Жерри Басстай хийсэн энэхүү яриа нь бүхнийг шийдсэн хэмээн дурссан байдаг.
Улмаар 2004 оны долдугаар сарын 15-нд Лэйкерс Шакил О’Нилыг Майами Хит рүү солилцоогоор явуулж, маргааш нь Коби Брайант Лэйкерстэй долоон жилийн хугацаатай, 136 сая орчим долларын гэрээ байгуулснаа зарласан юм. Ийнхүү Клипперс түүхэн дэх хамгийн том “алдаа”-гаа хийж, Брайант карьерынхаа туршид Лэйкерсийн төлөө 20 улирлыг өнгөрөөж, 2008-2010 оны хооронд гурван удаа NBA Finals-д шалгаран, 2009 болон 2010 онд аваргалсан билээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
One of the greatest careers in Los Angeles Lakers history came remarkably close to continuing on the other side of town.
In the summer of 2004, Kobe Bryant was a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent coming off a turbulent season in which the Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, Phil Jackson stepped away from the team and the partnership between Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal had reached its breaking point.
For the first time in his career, Bryant seriously explored leaving the Lakers. And according to people inside the Clippers organization at the time, he came extraordinarily close to doing it.
Longtime Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler later told the Los Angeles Times that the franchise believed Bryant had effectively committed after a meeting with owner Donald Sterling, general manager Elgin Baylor, coach Mike Dunleavy and team president Andy Roeser. Lawler said he learned the details from multiple officials who had been in the room.
As Bryant prepared to leave the meeting, Sterling reportedly asked whether the move was really going to happen.
According to Lawler, Bryant responded:
“Don’t worry, I’m a Clipper.”
Inside the organization, the reaction was immediate. Lawler recalled that Clippers officials were celebrating and believed they had landed one of the best players in basketball. Another former team employee told the Times that Baylor had said Bryant verbally committed, and preliminary discussions even began about how the Clippers would introduce him at Staples Center.
The financial framework was there as well.
The Clippers cleared enough salary-cap space to offer Bryant approximately $100 million to $106 million over six years, essentially the maximum another team could offer under the collective bargaining agreement. Because the Lakers held his Bird rights, however, they were able to offer an additional season and significantly more total money – roughly $136 million over seven years.
Bryant later acknowledged that the Clippers’ pitch was legitimate.
“I felt comfortable over there,” he said when announcing his return to the Lakers in 2004. “I could see myself playing for the Clippers.”
The Clippers also had reasons beyond money to believe Bryant might choose them. They had assembled young talent, held another high draft pick and offered him an opportunity to become the face of a franchise desperately trying to escape decades of losing.
But one final conversation changed the direction of Los Angeles basketball.
Bryant spoke with Jerry West, the executive who had originally engineered his arrival with the Lakers in 1996, and then eventually connected with Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who was vacationing in Europe. Bryant later said Buss promised that the organization would rebuild aggressively around him rather than spend years waiting for future cap space.
Years afterward, Bryant described that conversation simply:
“At the end of the day, Jerry Buss trumped it all.”
The timing made the decision even more dramatic.
On July 15, 2004, the Lakers officially traded O’Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a future first-round pick. One day later, Bryant announced that he was staying with the Lakers on a seven-year deal worth approximately $136 million.
Jackson’s departure had come several weeks earlier, effectively dismantling the core that had won three consecutive championships from 2000 through 2002.
For the Clippers, the disappointment was enormous.
They had spent months positioning themselves financially for Bryant, cleared additional salary in anticipation of signing him and believed until the final stages that they were about to change the trajectory of the franchise.
Instead, Bryant remained a Laker.
What followed turned the decision into one of the defining moments in franchise history.
Bryant eventually helped lead Los Angeles back to three consecutive NBA Finals from 2008 through 2010, winning championships in 2009 and 2010 and capturing Finals MVP honors both times. He spent all 20 seasons of his NBA career with the Lakers before retiring in 2016.
The Clippers, meanwhile, were left with perhaps the greatest near-miss in franchise history.
There is some reason to be careful with the popular description that Bryant had signed or formally agreed to a six-year contract with the Clippers. Contemporary reporting showed that the Clippers had made the offer and that Bryant came extremely close to accepting it, while Lawler and another former team employee later said the organization believed he had verbally committed. No contract was signed.
For a brief moment in July 2004, people inside the Clippers believed Kobe Bryant was theirs.
The post Kobe Bryant Nearly Became A Clipper In 2004 – Before Jerry Buss And The Lakers Changed Everything appeared first on OpenCourt Basketball.
