10 Trades That Changed The NBA Forever

Once upon a time, the New Orleans Pelicans were the New Orleans Hornets (and were the Oklahoma City Hornets for a bit), who had come from Charlotte. Not to be confused with the current day Charlotte Hornets who re-branded after being the expansion Charlotte Bobcats.

Those mid-90's Charlotte Hornets were a solid and exciting team led by Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and Dell Curry. After trading away Alonzo Mourning, they had a need at center. With little use for a 17-year-old shooting guard out of high school, the Hornets agreed to draft Kobe Bryant and send him to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for LA's star big man Vlade Divac.

For a trade that seemed sensible at the time, it ended up pretty lopsided. Divac would only play two seasons in Charlotte before leaving in free agency. Kobe Bryant would go on to be one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Playing all 20 seasons in LA, he played in 7 finals, won 5 championships, 18 All-Star teams, an MVP award, Olympic Gold medals, plus a load of other awards and records.

Not only did they land Black Mamba, but getting rid of Divac's contract allowed them to also sign Shaquille O'Neal from Orlando.

The Hornets would leave Charlotte five years later...it's entirely possible that Bryant would have been enough of a draw to stop the franchise from relocating.