National Basketball Association

Lakers Considered Trading Kobe Bryant for Grant Hill in 1999 Per Phil Jackson

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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According to Phil Jackson, the Los Angeles Lakers considered trading Kobe Bryant to the Detroit Pistons for Grant Hill in 1999

Since leaving the team in 2011, relations between Phil Jackson and the Lakers has been anything but solid. However, that hasn’t stopped him from dishing on the team on every occasion he gets.

With stories about Shaquille O’Neal once arriving to practice fully nude, The Zen Master’s latest recollection involves his claim that the Lakers considered, if only ever so briefly, trading Kobe Bryant to the Detroit Pistons for Grant Hill in 1999.

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According to Jackson, after breaking his wrist in the first exhibition game in 1999, “Kobe had to be sidelined and watch guys like Shaq, Glen Rice, Ron Harper, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, A.C. Green, Brian Shaw and Robert Horry pile up a 10-1 record.”

Considering the team’s success and how Shaq had already established himself the focal point of the team, Jackson was reluctant to reinsert Bryant into the rotation who supposedly said, “‘I don’t see myself not starting… I don’t want to be known as a bench player.”

Here is where the story gets interesting,

A couple of weeks later, we’re still winning and Shaq is completely motivated. But Kobe was only averaging about 19 points per game. So Kobe called Jerry West and wanted to know how Jerry and Elgin Baylor both averaged 30 points. Kobe also said that he wanted to be traded.

Of course, Jerry told me about the conversation. And, for a few minutes I thought about taking the Pistons up on an offer they made to trade Kobe for Grant Hill. Make that a few seconds.

Funny how Jackson says “only averaging about 19 points per game,” seeing that he was second only to Shaq in scoring.

Jackson quickly clarifies that he only considered it for a “few seconds,” and instead advised Kobe to be “patient” and “let the game come to him.”

Hindsight being 20-20, it’s easy to breathe a sigh of relief when comparing Kobe and Grant Hill’s careers, but a healthy one-two punch of Hill and Shaq backed up by LA’s supporting cast also would’ve been a force to be reckoned with.

But at the end of the day, come on, it’s Kobe Bryant we’re talking about.

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