Kobe Bryant won five NBA championships in his illustrious career. But three of them would not be possible without Shaquille O’Neal. The Lakers, from 2000 to 2002, had the first three-peat since Michael Jordan’s Bulls did it twice. But in that three-peat, the NBA media portrayed Kobe Bryant as the Robin to Shaquille O’Neal’s Batman.
Tracy McGrady recently addressed the media’s portrayal of Kobe Bryant with Gilbert Arenas on his show.
“That was the media. Because as players, when we watched this sh** when I’m watching Kobe in 2000, my brother can tell you, bro, I’m in my living room. When I’m watching the NBA finals and Shaq fouls out of that game and Kobe takes over, bro, I’m running around my f**king house, cause that’s my dude, right?”
“I’m running around my house, going crazy watching my dude take over this game, bro. That’s when I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this mother***er arrived, bro,’ like he is that dude. So when I’m watching him at that time, I’m not looking at him to be a sidekick or a second option to Shaq. Hell no. I’m looking at him like he’s that dude. He was putting up crazy numbers alongside him.”
Essentially, what McGrady wanted to say was that he never saw Kobe Bryant as the second option. He always saw Shaquille O’Neal as one (A) and Kobe Bryant as one (B).
Bryant was much younger than O’Neal when they won their first three NBA championships together. It was a phase in Bryant’s career where he matured into the player that he eventually became. During the first three championships, Bryant averaged 22.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists when Shaquille O’Neal was also present.
But when O’Neal left, Bryant averaged 30.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in the NBA Finals to win his remaining two championships. The coincidence of their careers at different stages in their lives does not mean that one player’s skills forced them to be second fiddle to the other.
Just because Shaquille O’Neal was a six-time All-Star before winning the championships, while Kobe Bryant was only a two-time All-Star, that does not mean that O’Neal’s domination diminishes Bryant’s coming-of-age moment.
Tracy McGrady recently claimed that if he teamed up with Shaquille O’Neal instead of Kobe Bryant, he would have an NBA championship too. Even Shaquille O’Neal agreed that this duo would be equally as dominant as Kobe and Shaq were.
Do you agree with them? Do you think the media maligned Kobe Bryant as the “sidekick” on the Lakers’ dynasty run? And would Tracy McGrady also have a championship ring with Shaquille O’Neal on his team? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
