Kobe Bryant firmly believes that he could not have played alongside Shaquille O’Neal – NBA Update
The championship loss to Detroit Pistons in 2004 is widely considered to be the main reason for the split between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. The duo had won three championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and had they been
able to achieve the same feat in 2004, it is believed the both these players would have continued to excel together.
However, in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Kobe Bryant has come out to reflect on the real reasons of Shaq’s departure and even went on to say that their partnership could not have lasted any longer, no matter the success.
According to Kobe, a line had to be drawn when he became aware of the fact that Shaq believed that he is not capable of winning a championship without him.
“It just wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t in the cards,” Bryant said. “There’s things that I wanted to do with my career and take my career to another level, that I was just incapable of doing as long as we were playing together….
“It just wasn’t going to work, so no matter what happened, even if we had won that championship, me being a free agent, there was just no way.”
At that particular period in time, the Lakers management made a wise decision to pursue Bryant in free agency, a younger and more ambitious athlete in comparison to Shaq. Even though Shaq achieved instant success following his
departure from Hollywood but in comparison, Bryant and the Lakers achieved back to back championships and still remain one of the most potent teams in the Western Conference.
Kobe also went on to show sympathy for Phil Jackson who had to deal with the whole scenario. He feels that even if Jackson had tried, he would not have been able to the keep them together for another year.
“The relationship between me and Shaq,” Kobe said. “Him having to deal with that relationship and kind of keeping me at arm’s distance so that, in turn, it can bring him closer to Shaq. And he was dealing with a young racehorse
that wanted to get to an elite level very fast… we all three are very stubborn. “
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