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The mid-2000s were tumultuous for the Kobe Bryant-led LA Lakers. Shaquille O'Neal was traded in 2004. The team went 34-48 in 2004-2005. And they suffered first-round playoff exits in 2006 and 2007.
The Lakers won their first conference title since the 2003-04 season in 2008 but fell to Kevin Garnett's Celtics in five games in the NBA Finals. Helping spur Los Angeles' run was a blockbuster trade.
In February 2008, the Lakers traded Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol's draft-rights, two first-round picks and cash for Pau Gasol and a second-round pick in 2010. Gasol's addition created immediate impact, with the Lakers going 22-5 after the trade. Los Angeles then won championships in 2009 and 2010.
On "The Old Man & The Three" podcast, Gasol talked about how Kobe Bryant welcomed him to the Lakers:
"From the very beginning he's like, 'Look, I'm very happy that you're here. Let's acknowledge that. I'm very excited you're here, but now let's go f***ing win a title. Let's go win a title. Let's go win this thing.'"
Gasol also recalled Bryant talking about his past with the Grizzlies.
"'I know you're ready,'" Gasol remembered Bryant telling him. "'You have gone through your struggles in Memphis. Now, this is it. This is our opportunity. We gotta go seize it. We gotta go after it.'"
The Lakers went back-to-back with Gasol, winning championships in 2009 and 2010. Bryant was awarded the Finals MVP for both of those titles.
Kobe Bryant's legacy post-Shaq
Basketball fans are aware of this quote from Shaquille O'Neal from an interview between him and Kobe Bryant in 2018:
"Oh, heated. I tore my house up. I went crazy, because, when I got four, you got four. I was like 'Hey, I got four. He got four. That's straight' ... When you got that fifth one and said 'I just wanted one more than Shaq.'"
The quote not only reflects the competitiveness and drive that both had, it also shows how Bryant cemented his legacy after Shaq exited the Lakers.
The Kobe-led Lakers were down in the dumps for three years. But then the Gasol trade went down. (The deal was regarded as unbalanced and was heavily criticized by San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich at the time.) Kobe then took the Lakers to to the promised land, winning two regular-season MVPs and two Finals MVPs in the process.
Bryant, as he himself put it, "could have won 12 rings" if O'Neal had been in the gym more. But he proved he could still do more by himself than Shaq could.
Guess the Lakers players!
