Phil Jackson’s 2004 book The Last Season offered a brutally honest, behind-the-scenes look at the Los Angeles Lakers’ failed superteam experiment during the 2003–04 season.
While the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals, the year was filled with dysfunction, egos, and tension. And no two figures symbolized that chaos more than Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the very duo that had once brought Los Angeles three straight titles.
Jackson did not hold back in detailing his frustrations with both players and while he respected their talents, his characterizations were far from flattering. Shaq, in Jackson’s eyes, was a complex mix of physical dominance and emotional fragility.
“For all his bravado, Shaq is a very sensitive, fragile soul who appreciates any sign of tenderness.”
“He’s often maligned for his lack of durability, his unwillingness to play with severe physical discomfort, yet the critics have no clue to what he must regularly overcome to compete at this level. Nobody can begin to understand what it must feel like to haul a 340-pound body around, stopping and starting, stopping and starting.”
Despite being the most physically imposing player in the league, Shaq was often unwilling to play through pain, and his lack of conditioning remained a major frustration for the coaching staff.
Tex Winter, Jackson’s longtime assistant and the architect of the triangle offense, was perhaps Shaq’s most outspoken critic. After Game 2 of the Finals, Winter bluntly declared, “When I’m all done, I’m going to expose this guy as overrated.”
Jackson tried to defend O’Neal’s impact, citing his efficiency and size, but Tex was relentless, accusing Shaq of having terrible footwork, being uncoachable, and surviving on dunks.
The moment turned ugly when Shaq lashed out during a video session, cursing at Winter in front of the team and refusing to apologize. Jackson recalled telling Shaq he wasn’t doing the right thing, to which Shaq replied, “I know I’m not doing the right thing, but I don’t give a f***.”
Karl Malone, who had joined the Lakers that season, had warned O’Neal before training camp to get in shape. “If any forty-year-old man comes out there and kicks his butt running up and down the court, he ought to be embarrassed,” Malone reportedly told him.
Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, drew perhaps even harsher criticism from Jackson. Though Jackson admired Kobe’s work ethic and drive, he painted a picture of a player who was selfish, immature, and borderline uncoachable. Bryant’s relationship with teammates, especially O’Neal, was strained beyond repair.
He frequently clashed with authority and was unwilling to buy fully into Jackson’s system. Bryant also spent much of the season battling the psychological toll of the Colorado sexual assault case, which Jackson believed deeply affected his mental state and further isolated him from the team.
Jackson even confessed that he had asked Lakers management not to bring Kobe back if he were to return as coach the following season, a request that would ultimately not matter, as both Jackson and Shaq would be gone that summer.
The Last Season remains one of the most unfiltered portraits of NBA superstar ego and team dysfunction ever written and a stark reminder that talent alone can’t hold a dynasty together.
