“He was the only one keeping Shaq and Kobe from killing each other” - Howard Beck says Karl Malone was the glue of the 2003-04 LA Lakers team with tensions between Kobe and Shaq

The Shaq and Kobe LA Lakers revamped their roster a year after their three-peat was ended by Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs. To counter the Spurs’ emerging Big 3, the Hollywood team added two then-future Hall-of-Famers in Karl Malone and Gary Payton. LA were the heavy favorites to regain their crown but things got out of hand.

After their dominant Grand Slam, there was a power struggle in the background of the LA Lakers' jaw-dropping collection of stars. O'Neal and Bryant’s toxic relationship was well-chronicled, but what was not known was the role Karl Malone played in keeping the team together.

Howard Beck, who extensively covered the LA Lakers during the O'Neal-Bryant era, appeared on The Ringer’s NBA Show with Logan Murdock and revealed a juicy detail:

“Karl Malone was the glue of that team. He was the only one keeping Shaq and Kobe from killing each other in the locker room in what was probably the most tense of all their seasons together.”

"The Mailman" came to the LA Lakers to team up with the most dominant duo in the league at the time. What he didn’t realize back then was how close the O'Neal and Bryant partnership was crumbling. More than Malone's play on the court, it was his locker room presence that kept the team from falling apart before they barely started.

Beck, who’s now a senior NBA writer for Sports Illustrated, also explained how off-court issues and Karl Malone’s injury almost ended everything before they could get started:

“Kobe’s facing the sexual assault charge in Colorado…There was just a lot!!! It wasn’t they were so top-heavy with four future Hall-of-Famers who couldn’t share the ball. In the first 20 or whatever games when Karl Malone was playing, they were destroying people! They looked like they might go 80-2 for the season. That team was amazing. Karl goes down, it changes everything.”

The LA Lakers would eventually finish with a 56-26 record to top the Pacific Division, but struggled in the playoffs. Their 4-1 series win over the Houston Rockets was a lot closer than it looked. They also survived the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in another thrilling six-game series.

Karl Malone, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton would ultimately get embarrassed by the Detroit Pistons in the 04 Finals. The series was tied at 1-1 before the Lakers’ bruising power forward went down with an injury. The Lakers didn’t look the same without the legendary star.

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Would Karl Malone have stayed another year had the Shaq and Kobe Lakers won the 2004 NBA title?

The LA Lakers could have kept their super team if they had won the 04 NBA championship. [Photo: Lake Show Life]

Karl Malone was already 40-years-old and in his 19th year in his one-and-done season with the LA Lakers. However, there was a real possibility that he could have stayed one more year to try and defend the title if the Lakers had won it in the first place.

"The Mailman" was also an iron man. Before his campaign with the Lakers, where he only played 42 games, he laced it up almost every night. He did not miss more than two games in 17 of his 19 seasons.

The Utah Jazz legend could also have called it quits simply because of how chaotic the Lakers had become at the time.