Shawn Kemp was one of the most fun-to-watch players during the 1990s era forming a formidable duo with floor general Gary Payton in Seattle.
Before ending up with the Supersonics, the former high-flying sensation revealed a story on how the Los Angeles Lakers tried to secure his services, but after he realized the Lakers could have sent him overseas, Kemp started visiting other NBA teams.
(via fadeawayworld.net):
“Magic hooked me up with some agents,” he said during his appearance on The Players’ Tribune’s Knuckleheads Podcast with Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson.
“I left Trinity Valley [Community College] and moved to LA. The Lakers were hiding me out in LA for months. But that year the Lakers won the Championship. So I was thinking… They might try to send me overseas.
“It was four days before the draft and I started going out and visiting teams. I only visited four or five teams. Seattle was the first team that I visited,” he continued.
“I was indulged to go to Seattle and play for them simply because they had a Black coach and I thought he could help me out and relate to me in more ways than one.”
Kemp eventually made the right decision, as he offered numerous classic highlights with the Supersonics including a trip to the 1996 NBA Finals.
However, it would’ve been interesting to see what would have happened, if he was a member of the LA Lakers’ team alongside Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Byron Scott.
Kemp finished his career with averages of 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds throughout 1051 career games in the NBA.
