By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Shaquile O’ Neal and Kobe Bryant won three NBA championship titles together with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000 to 2002. Could that number be bigger if Shaq wasn’t traded to the Miami Heat in 2004?
Shaq definitely thinks so. In fact, he believes that he and Kobe could’ve won seven titles if he remained a part of the team that dominated the NBA in the beginning of the 00s.
“Seven,” Shaq answered when asked by former NBAer Matt Barnes how many championships could the Lakers’ power duo have. “The reason I got traded isn’t because of the Kobe beef. They wanted me to take less money. I said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ I had money, I should’ve said, ‘Alright I’ve raised you enough, its your team now.”
“He was a guy who wanted it right away,” Shaq had mentioned. “And we all understand pecking order. It was my team. That ain’t about to happen. But I saw that he had something in him. This is where I wish a little more tactful. Egos get in the way…a lot of unnecessary stuff that shouldn’t have happened, happened, because of the ego, and it was probably my fault.”