When the Lakers traded their starting center Vlade Divac for a youngster named Kobe Bryant, many pundits were skeptical. Bryant had followed Kevin Garnett’s footsteps and had skipped college directly, declaring for the draft.

Given that he was only an 18-year-old kid coming out of high school, many wondered if it was a risk worth taking. 20 years and 5 championships later, it is safe to say that the Kobe held his own and cemented his position as one of the greats of the game.

Jerry West reveals crazy Kobe Bryant story

While Kobe did work out for multiple teams, it was only the Lakers who pulled the trigger to land the young star. The mastermind behind this move was Lakers’ legend Jerry West.

West recently sat for an interview and revealed how Bryant‘s obsession about basketball made him a standout player in the NBA.

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“Oh my gosh, if you just watch him with a basketball in his hand, there’s something special about this guy. Even at that age, 17-18 years old, he would play basketball everywhere.”

West went on to share a crazy story when Bryant broke his wrist. “One of the things I’d heard, he’d been playing at the beach okay and I said to him, ‘Kobe you cannot do this.’

“I said, ‘You’re going to get hurt’ and right before we were ready for uh as a rookie to go to training camp in Hawaii I get a call from our trainer Kobe Bryant just broke his wrists playing basketball.”

West revealed his frustrations with the same. “You know you wanted to strangle him but yet do you want to disrupt some kid who just loves to play a sport that he was so gifted in.”

Kobe’s obsession with the game made him one of the best ever. While he did struggle in his rookie year, he worked incredibly hard and started showing the world how good a high school kid can really be.

Once he got going, there was no stopping Kobe. ‘Black Mamba’ certainly left his mark on the game and made the Lakers one of the most successful franchises in NBA history.