The L.A. Lakers are a force of a basketball team and have always been. As of right now, there is little that convince me that they are not going to be a force moving forward as well. What fans want to believe is that the Lakers are a team of great players and that there is nothing happening behind the scenes, but that is just not the case. Shaq and Kobe played well together, but according to one source there was a few issues between the two that might not have ended up on court.
Recently, Shaq’s name has made a few appearances in the news and the way it sounds is that is not a good thing. Once source is claiming that Shaq wanted to “murder Kobe”. That supposed quote can live for a long time and that is not a good thing for Shaq. On the other hand, Shaq is part of the reason that these quotes end up being heard. He also recently said that he would probably still “be a Laker” if Karl Malone does not get hurt.
If you do not remember when Malone was hurt and Shaq was still on the team, do not feel bad. You have to go back to the 2004 NBA Finals when Malone injures his knee. Malone was out for 11 weeks following a knee injury and when he came back, the Lakers were unstoppable. That was until they got to the playoffs that season and another knee injury slowed Malone down considerably. The Laker’s finished that season when Detroit beat them.
In the meantime, Shaq thinks that if a couple of things were different, besides Malone’s knee, he would still be a Laker. The Lakers were looking at losing Kobe to free agency, along with Derek Fisher and Gary Payton all at the same time. While the last two went to sign with other teams, Kobe remained a Laker and is still one today. The entire season back in 2003-2004 can be looked as one that most of the players would like to forget and some of the fans. Even if the Lakers had gone on to win the Championship that season, it would still be very long odds that would have kept the team together at that point.
According to a few other players on the team, there was a sense that everything was going to be “OK”, but that certainly was not the case. There was also a problem between Shaq and the Laker’s owner, Jerry Buss, according to reports. Shaq was looking for a contract extension and he made sure that Buss knew that was the only option. The sad thing is that Shaq again was paving the way for a bed that he would not likely want to sleep in.