Tonight, Kobe Bryant will play in his last game in the NBA. His 20-year career is almost unparalleled. A five-time champion, 2008 league MVP, 18-time All-Star, third all-time scorer in NBA history, and arguably the greatest Laker of all time. The last one is the most curious.

It’s well-documented how John Calipari wanted to draft Kobe for the Nets with the eight pick, but a far less-known story is how the Milwaukee Bucks almost drafted Kobe Bryant.

In Jonathan Abrams’ new book Boys Among Men, he chronicled the stories of NBA players, who made the jump to the pros straight from high school. Kobe is certainly among the most successful and famous, and was one of the most featured players in the book.

To set the stage, in the ’95 draft, Kevin Garnett was the first high school player in decades to jump to the pros out of high school. In his rookie season, Garnett showed flashes of the future All-Star caliber player he would become, which emboldened NBA executives to actually scout and draft players coming out of high school in subsequent drafts.

The ’96 draft is often cited as one of the best draft classes in NBA history with a number of Hall of Fame level players, such as Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Jermaine O’Neal, and of course Kobe Bryant among its ranks.

At the time, Mike Dunleavy (Sr.) served as both the head coach and vice-president of basketball operations for the Bucks, with Milwaukee holding the fourth overall selection. Dunleavy was a former player, who had actually played alongside Kobe’s father, Joe Bryant, in Philadelphia. Although, Kobe’s agent, Arn Tellem, refused multiple teams (including the Bucks) a workout with Bryant after learning of the Lakers’ interest in him, Dunleavy had a scout in Philadelphia, who highly recommended Bryant. While Dunleavy had originally expressed interest in Ray Allen, a shooting guard from UConn fresh off a national championship, Dunleavy decided to lean on the advice of his scout and his familiarity with the Bryant family.

With his mind made up to draft Bryant, Dunleavy began scheming. The Timberwolves held the fifth selection and coveted Stephon Marbury, who used to play with Garnett on the summer circuit. Dunleavy agreed to draft Marbury and then send him to the Timberwolves for Ray Allen and a future first-round pick. With this initial deal, Dunleavy was poised to strike. The Celtics held the sixth pick, and Dunleavy was willing to flip Ray Allen for the sixth pick and another future first round pick, only to then offer the sixth pick to the Nets for the eighth pick and yet another future first.

With the potential deals in place, Dunleavy would’ve drafted Bryant at eight and departed the draft with another three future first-round picks, a haul that would’ve gone down in NBA history, as one of, if not the best series of deals ever made. There was only one problem.

In his book Abrams writes, “Herb Kohl, Milwaukee’s owner, quashed the idea. ‘I don’t get this,’ Kohl said, according to Dunleavy. ‘All I’ve been hearing all year long is about how Ray Allen is great. Next thing I know, now you want to trade down and take these picks and take this high school guy?’… Arn Tellem declined Dunleavy’s request for Bryant to work out (and everyone else’s) once the Lakers came into focus as Bryant’s potential destination. ‘Well, if you can’t work him out, you can’t pick him,’ Kohl said.”

While Ray Allen was a very productive player for the Bucks, even leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001, Bryant was the superior player by almost every quantifiable metric. Bryant would have joined a team featuring former number one overall pick Glenn Robinson and two time All-Star Vin Baker. With the three additional first-round picks they would have added, Dunleavy would have been able to infuse the Bucks with a plethora of young talent or offer a war-chest of assets in order to facilitate a trade for more established talent.

It is easy to envision this potential Big Three of the Bucks, with other pieces being an extremely competitive team in the late 90’s and early part of the 21st century. It might have even propelled Bryant to greater heights, even faster in his career. In Los Angeles, Bryant was stuck playing behind Eddie Jones for his first two years, but would certainly have been the starter in Milwaukee, as Ray Allen started 81 of 82 games in his rookie season. On top of that, while Robinson and Baker were respectable offensive talents, neither was on the level of Shaquille O’Neal, so it is easy to envision Bryant becoming the focal point of the offense much earlier in his career.

Alas, Arn Tellem’s plot to scare off teams from drafting Bryant worked to perfection and the Bucks ended up topping out as a good, but not great team during the Ray Allen era. Despite being a Laker and not a Buck, Bryant’s career has been a marvel to witness and his impact on the game will be a lasting one. His famed work ethic and determination are qualities for all to emulate, and both fans and the game of basketball itself were lucky to have him.

Bryant’s last game is tonight against the Utah Jazz, and is one final chance to pay tribute to one of the game’s greatest, even if he never was a Buck.