Recently, former Lakers head coach Dale Harris revealed some stories about the Lakers once wanted to trade Maddy. Harris said: "Jerry West had hoped to trade Maddy to the Lakers in 1998, putting him in a trio with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
But despite West's best efforts, then-boss Bass rejected the deal. He chose to keep then-All-Star Eddie Jones instead of trading Maddy. ”
At the time, Maddy had an impactful audition for the Lakers, which made West very eager to get a draft pick through a trade to select Maddy.
"Maddy got physically stronger in the year that followed and West came up with the idea that we should pay everything to get this player, and even if the team would be down in a short period of time, but we could have players like Kobe Bryant and Maddy in one team."
Of course, the Harris also believe that he does not want to pay for a star player like Jones for the trade to get Maddy.