Shaquille O'Neal says he and Kobe Bryant could have won six titles
Shaquille O'Neal believes if he and Kobe Bryant could've stayed together on the same team, they would've tied Michael Jordan's title total.
By
Zach Harper
•
2 min read
There has been a lot of talk the past week about what could have been between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The former Los Angeles Lakers' duo won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002, and after losing the 2004 NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons, were dismantled. Shaq's "workplace beef" with Kobe, coupled with his age and contract demands led to Dr. Jerry Buss deciding to move O'Neal to the Miami Heat.
The duo was broken up far too early and had the chance to easily get back to winning championships if they just found a way to stay together. Shaq would go on to win another title with the Heat and Kobe would bring two more championships to the Lakers, but we were all left wondering if this duo could've been the greatest, or at least most successful, of all time. Shaq was on "The Rich Eisen Show" with Suzy Shuster and said he believes they could have tied Michael Jordan's total of six titles with the Chicago Bulls.
"I think we could've either tied Michael or surpassed Mike," O'Neal said on the Rich Eisen Show. "Mike has six. You know, everybody talks about Bill Russell's 11. No player will ever come along and get 11 championships unless they reduce the league to 10 teams. So now Mike, when it comes to the pinnacle of championships, you always got to go with Mike. Mike has six. I think we could've either tied that or got that. But if "if" was a fifth, we'd all be drunk, Susan."
Shaq had turned 32 years old the season before he was dealt to Miami, and was coming off a campaign in which the Lakers won 56 games behind his 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. Kobe led the team in scoring with 24 points per game. It was the second straight season in which Kobe led the team in scoring as he was becoming the best and most important player on the team. They also had Karl Malone chasing a ring at the age of 40 and Gary Payton in his mid-30s. It was supposed to be a foursome that easily led to a title run.
Payton would go on to win one in 2006 with O'Neal in Miami while Kobe missed the playoffs as the Lakers were trying to reshuffle their entire organizational dynamic. Bryant was the main guy and Rudy Tomjanovich as the coach. But with Kobe in his mid-20s and entering the prime of his career, there's no reason to think Kobe and Shaq couldn't have at least made another run at a title. The San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns would've been the main competition over the next couple years and the Dallas Mavericks were becoming one of the top teams in the league as well.
However, Shaq and Kobe were a winning combination for a long time, especially with Phil Jackson as their coach. In the five years the Lakers had that trio involved, they won three titles and made it to four NBA Finals.
