Kobe Bryant’s first agent when he came out of high school was Arn Tellem. Tellem had become close with Joe Jellybean Bryant when he played at La Salle in Philadelphia. He took a keen interest in Bryant’s son Kobe who was playing on the Merion High School varsity as a 14 years old freshman. Jordan did not make the varsity until his junior year. Tellem was also close friends with Jerry West. He alerted West to this phenomenon and set up a tryout with the Lakers. Young Bryant went toe to toe with elite defender Michael Cooper for 20 minutes. West shut the tryout down and instructed Tellem to get Bryant for the Lakers. High schoolers going straight to the NBA was uncommon and all had been big men. Skinny teenager Bryant was considered risky. Tellem did not allow any other teams to try out Bryant prior to the draft. Charlotte drafted him 13th and immediately traded him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac. Kobe for Vlade, try and wrap your head around that one.
Kobe’s point person within Tellem’s STX sports agency was Rob Pelinka. Pelinka became Bryant’s friend and confidant. When Bryant was indicted for sexual assault in Colorado, Pelinka was at his side for every court hearing. Mamba convinced Pelinka to leave Tellem and partner with him as his sole agent and business partner. Adidas had aggressively signed the 17-year-old Bryant to a 6 year $48 million as High School Senior. It would be one of many things that the Black Mamba would do that no one had ever done. With that contract expiring, Bryant teased all the shoe companies in 2002-23 by wearing different shoes for different games. Pelinka and Bryant knew they wanted a deal with Nike. Nike famously created the Air Jordan. At 23 years old with three NBA championships, Kobe's ascension to that throne was affirmed. Nike became part of the Kobe Bryant inner circle with Pelinka. The point person at Nike was Nico Harrison. They all became lifelong friends taking family trips together over the years. Pelinka and Harrison grieved over Kobe’s untimely death.
On January 7, 2025, these two decades long friends met for a cup of coffee in Dallas. Harrison queried Pelinka if the Lakers would be interested in acquiring Luka Doncic. Rob thought his buddy was clowning him. The conversation endured and Pelinka realized Harrison was serious. He had his full attention now. They both agreed that concealment of all discussions would be kept between the two friends. The Lakers had seen the Chris Paul trade blow up in 2011 when word got out the deal. Grumblings around the league that they all wanted a shot at CP3. Late commish David Stern vetoed the deal as being “unfair”. Harrison and Pelinka knew secrecy were key to making the deal happen. If word got out, it would get ugly and neither of them get what they want.
The Dallas narrative was that Luka was aggressively out of shape with persistent injuries. It was observed that Doncic put on weight during the tough NBA season. One can only imagine what a multi-millionaire Slovenian 25-year-old might be doing but it wasn’t the gym. The Mavericks hired conditioning coaches and nutrition magicians to assist the lad. Luka loved the people, but the results were wanting. Doncic did not care because he was going to get a 5-year $345 million max deal at the end of the season. Harrison was terrified of paying that freight for the over-served adolescent. They put the deal together that was announced last weekend.
The backlash in Dallas and around the league was shock and outrage. Doncic was barely in his prime and fresh off a trip to the NBA finals. Boston figured out in those finals that the offensive sansei was a defensive albatross. They ran right through Luka on their way to the title. A rim protector like Anthony Davis is what Harrison felt they needed to get over the hump not Luka. Davis is under contract through 2027-28 with an opt out potential in 2026-27. Lebron and AD had a nice Batman Robin thing going but Davis did not like playing center. He wants to play on the wing, and he will in Dallas. The Lakers were thin there in the paint, Dallas is not. He will be a tree in their forest of big men, not the big man. Doncic's max contract with the trade is now reset to a 4-year $229 million deal. Nice cake but big cut.
The Lakers are a special franchise with a rich history of making deals like this that transform. Kareem was traded for Junior Bridgeman, Elmore Smith, Dave Meyers and Brian Winters. In 1971, Jabbar won his first title with the Bucks, but he requested the trade. He would win five more titles with the Lakers. The Bucks won their second in 2021 fifty years after the trade. In 1976-77, the New Orleans Jazz signed Laker great Gail Goodrich. The NBA awarded the Lakers compensatory draft picks as part of the transaction. When the draft picks came due, they were the Utah Jazz and the worst team in the NBA. LA won the coin flip and drafted Magic Johnson with that first pick. In 1979, new Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien wanted immediate results for that moribund franchise. He traded his 1980 first round pick to the Lakers along with Butch Lee for Laker Don Ford and the Lakers 1980 first round pick. Stepien’s grand plan made the Cavaliers the worst team in the NBA. The number one pick became James Worthy. First time in NBA history that the defending champion had the first pick. Just goes to show, the leprechauns don’t have all the gold at the end of the rainbow. Game on again!
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