Published 17:40 IST, January 7th 2020
Lakers would have won back-to-back NBA titles for a decade without Spurs, says Kobe Bryant
Lakers legend Kobe Bryant said that San Antonio Spurs team was tough when the playoffs came around or else Lakers would have continued to win championships.
- SportFit
- 3 min read
The Los Angeles Lakers team from the early 2000s were one of the dominant teams in NBA and went onto win 5 NBA titles in 10 years. The reason behind Lakers' dominance was the duo of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryan. However, the one question that will always be in minds of basketball fan is how many championships these two players would have won had they been on the same page during their time at Lakers.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal split
The Los Angeles Lakers traded Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat in 2004, but Kobe Bryant remained in Lakers to become the face of the franchise until the end of his career in 2016. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal won three straight titles together with Lakers, but Bryant believes the San Antonio Spurs stopped them from winning seven more.
Kobe Bryant on Spurs were tough to beat
Speaking on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s Showtime Show called “All The Smoke.” The Lakers legend talked about how it was difficult to beat once the playoffs started. According to News4SanAntonio.com, Bryant said that Spurs were tough to beat when the playoffs came around. He also said that it wasn’t like Shaq and he weren’t on the same page, but the bigger question should be how many titles would Lakers have won. If the Spurs weren’t the Spurs, he said that Lakers would have run the table for a decade. He further added that the talent, the coaching, everything in San Antonio was kind of a perfect and if they weren’t in the picture Lakers probably would have run 10 titles in a row.
Kobe Bryant stats with Lakers
Kobe Bryant played 1,346 career games for the Lakers with career averages of 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. He cemented himself as the greatest Laker of all-time. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard was also named 18-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, 15-time All-NBA Team member, two-time Finals MVP and five-time champion with the Purple and Gold. Bryant is the third-leading scoring in NBA history. The Lakers retired Bryant’s No 8 and 24 jerseys.
Updated 17:40 IST, January 7th 2020