Once upon a time, Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers had the same number of titles. They were almost swapped for each other at the turn of the millennium.
Playing on opposite sides of the country, Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have much crossover between them. Their career paths nearly intersected early in Kobe’s career when a disgruntled 20-year old Bryant demanded Phil Jackson trade him.
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Three years into his career, Bryant was sidelined with a broken hand suffered in the first exhibition game of the 1999-00 season.
According to Charley Rosen of Today’s Fast Break:
"“Then he fell and broke his wrist in our first exhibition game. For several weeks, 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. Shaq had really bought into the triangle and was well established at the heart of our offense.“When Kobe was healed and ready to return, I was a bit reluctant to make a major alteration in our winning combination. So I suggested that Kobe come off the bench. ‘I don’t see myself not starting,’ was his response. ‘I don’t want to be known as a bench player.’ Here was a 20-year-old already concerned about his legacy. So we had a little pushback, an indication of what might lie ahead.“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.”"
It was a brief consideration, and evidently went no further than this conversation, but it’s always interesting to ponder how things would have gone for both franchises if a move had been made. Hill went on to play his sixth season in 1999-00 and put together his highest-scoring season, averaging 25.8 points per game.
It was also Hill’s last great season, as he suffered an ankle injury in the playoffs that he never fully recovered from.
Bryant had a breakout season in 1999-00. He averaged 22.5 points and added 4.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. He broke into the ranks of the elite that season and won his first of five NBA championships.
Grant Hill ended up being a piece of the puzzle that brought the Pistons their first title since the Bad Boys era, as he was traded to the Orlando Magic for a package that included Ben Wallace. Needless to say, there are no Going to Work Pistons and no 2004 championship without Big Ben.
It wasn’t Kobe’s last near-miss with the Pistons. In 2007, the Pistons and Lakers nearly came to an agreement to send Kobe to the Pistons in exchange for Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell and two first-round picks.
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That didn’t happen either, and the Lakers went on to win two more championships thereafter.