The Los Angeles Lakers were led to three straight NBA Championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002 by the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
However, due to recurring issues between the superstars, the Lakers decided to trade O’Neal to the Miami Heat in 2004 after losing 1-4 vs. the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals. Thus, handing the key to the franchise to Kobe Bryant. In a 2005 interview with Cigar Aficionado’s Marvin R. Shanken, Michael Jordan claimed that the Lakers made a mistake by trading Shaq.
“I would have never gotten rid of Shaq [O’Neal],” Jordan said. “It’s as simple as that. You’ve got three championships with a big man, and big men are hard to find. Not only that, you have the most dominant big man in the game today. You don’t just send him away because you got some problems.”
Michael Jordan further shared his views on O’Neal’s trade to the Heat and claimed if he had a seven-footer like the Diesel, he would have continued playing.
“I’m pretty sure he does,” Jordan added. “But you can’t blame one guy. It’s a combination of both of them. If you’ve got success in your house, you find a way to manage so that everybody prospers and everybody is viewed as champions. Personalities got involved after they’d had some success. It becomes about individuals—individual goals that they wanted to achieve.”
“Be it Kobe leading the league in scoring and carrying the team by himself, or Shaq proving he can win without Kobe. What’s the purpose of changing if you’ve got the right mixture that’s working? Give me a seven-footer, and I’d probably still be playing right now.”
After Shaq’s departure from the team, the Lakers had a 34-48 record in the 2004-05 season and missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. On the other hand, it didn’t long for O’Neal to find success in Miami. He helped the Heat win the 2006 NBA Championship.
Bryant would later go on to win two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, but fans will always wonder if the Lakers could have won more rings if they had kept their dynamic duo together.
Kobe Bryant On If Shaquille O’Neal Had His Work Ethic
During the prime of his career, Shaquille O’Neal was regarded as the most dominant player in the NBA. O’Neal relied on his raw athletic prowess to dominate teams in the league.
But what if Shaq had the insane work ethic of Kobe? Well, the Mamba believes the duo could have won 12 rings together.
“He’d be the greatest of all time,” Bryant said. “He’d be the first to tell you that. This guy was a force like I had never seen. It was crazy. Guy that size, generally guys that size are a little timid. They don’t wanna be tall, they don’t wanna be big. He did not care. He was mean, he was nasty, he was competitive, he was vindictive. I wish he was in the gym, I would have had f***ing 12 rings.”
While Shaq agreed that nobody worked harder than Kobe, the Big Aristotle explained he had a Hall of Fame resume even without the Mamba’s work ethic. O’Neal believes if his career was a failure, that would be a different thing.
At the end of the day, Shaquille O’Neal seems satisfied with what he achieved in the NBA, with or without Kobe Bryant’s work ethic. Shaq retired in 2011 with four rings to his name, among other accolades.
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