Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the 3 greatest duos in franchise history
By Zane Harris
#1 Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal
The final and best duo in Lakers history is of course Shaq and Kobe. They are the perfect mix of achieving one of the most impressive runs in a three-year span in any sport. Breaking up the duo early enough in their careers that we can speculate that they would have done a lot more winning together if they were able to put aside their egos and continue to play with the Lakers.
The two played together from the 1996-1997 season through the 2003-2004 season. In this time together, the two won back to back to back championships. Which is especially impressive considering that the two were only together for seven years. In their time together, Kobe Bryant averaged 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.5 steals a game. While Shaq averaged 27.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game.
Just looking at the stat lines of the two while understanding that this duo started in Kobe’s rookie season illustrates just how dominant the two were together and were by far the best duo in not only Lakers history but possibly even the entire history of the NBA.
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The only other duo that could contend with Shaq and Kobe would be Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. However, in that hypothetical matchup there would be no one who would be able to guard Shaq. If Shaq and Kobe would have been able to finish their careers together, who knows how many titles they would have been able to win together. However, even with their pairing being cut short, they will still go down as the best duo in Lakers and possibly even NBA history.