Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neals former Lakers teammate Derek Fisher lately recalled when issues began turning bitter between the dynamic duo.
Kobe was excellent in the course of the Lakers’ championship run in 1999-00, however the next season he and Shaq had been nonetheless sharing the highlight.
Bryant didn’t find yourself being the Lakers’ main scorer in that 2000-01 season and Fisher says he was beginning to really feel underneath appreciated.
“We gained the primary title in 2000, and so I feel that second yr…in 2000-2001, that’s when it actually shifted slightly bit to I feel Kob actually felt like he was being requested to sacrifice slightly an excessive amount of when it comes to what — once more, it’s important to bear in mind, Kob actually noticed himself and in the end turned one of many G.O.A.T.s,” Fisher stated on Podcast P with Paul George. “Proper? And so not one of the guys on that checklist had been the second man. I imply, for those who actually go down the checklist of fellows that we have now the G.O.A.T. conversations about, I don’t know if there have been lots of these guys, if any, had been the second man.
“And so I feel in ’01, Kob began to really feel like, ‘To ensure that me to be the G.O.A.T. that I do know I’m able to accessing — I’m keen to place the time in. I’m willig’ to get up at 4 within the morning, no sleep, prepare exhausting, play in each sport, play via accidents, do every little thing to turn into one of many biggest gamers of all time. Why am I being requested to do much less and be much less when my teammate that’s able to simply as a lot or extra greatness isn’t possibly investing that a lot time, vitality, etcetera?’
“And I feel that was the yr the place it modified slightly bit from wholesome — a few of the pressure the nice groups do want — to slightly bit extra like one man is possibly standing in the way in which of the opposite. And so for the remainder of us on the group, we simply at all times made positive that each guys understood, ‘We’re not selecting a facet, bro.’”
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