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Former NBA MVP and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul Jabbar has made some key revelations about the turbulent times of his former team the Los Angeles Lakers in the mid-2000s. The Lakeshow kick-started the millennium with some of the most dominant teams in basketball history.
These squads were built around the imposing centre Shaquille O’Neal and dynamic guard Kobe Bryant, who went on to have Hall of Fame careers. But the duo, after winning three consecutive titles, had a very public fall out. But now the Captain himself has come forward to talk about those times through his newsletter.
Jabbar wrote about how Shaq wanted the ball more but Kobe didn’t care about his ideas. These disagreements led to the team losing stability and in turn imploding. The all-time NBA points leader posted, “Shaq wanted Kobe to pass more and Kobe didn’t care what Shaq thought. When your two most dominant players don’t get along, the team becomes dysfunctional. No one is happy, there’s no team stability, every game feels like a separate battleground rather than part of a flowing season.”
He continued, “The problem was that Kobe was obsessed with reaching his pinnacle as a player, so he stayed in the best shape all year around. But he saw Shaq as lacking commitment to the game and the team by allowing himself to get out of shape off-season and barely getting back in shape for the season. Because of that, Kobe lost respect for Shaq and Shaq lost all influence over Kobe.”
The five-time NBA champion then addressed the consequences of this break-up as it led to the firing of Lakers head coach Phil Jackson. He wrote, “On the outside, it seems crazy to trade Shaq and fire Phil Jackson. Phil had gotten them four championships in five years. And Shaq was still an irresistible force as well as an unmovable object.”
“But the turmoil did not bode well for the future of the Lakers and that’s what this decision was all about. Kobe was the future and they would rebuild around him. Phil was just collateral damage because he was close with Shaq and sparred often with Kobe.”