After the extensions almost simultaneous of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it is not difficult to imagine the duo of the Lakers to chain the titles. But even if successful, Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t want to hear from this duo. For Diesel, they will do no better than its association with Kobe Bryant.
The history of the Lakers is already immense, but Anthony Davis and LeBron James are despite everything in the process of writing a new glorious page. Champions in the bubble, following a historically long and trying season, the two teammates could still reign in the league for a few years
Thus, they would catch up in the all-time hierarchy and in the hearts of certain Angelinos fans of other mythical associations. Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar already, the best point guard and potentially the best pivot of all time, or even Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, authors of the last 3-peat in the NBA.
But according to the latter, the comparison between these pairs is not valid. As he explained in very strong words to Ohm Youngmisuk fromESPN, the King and AD will never be Kobe and Shaq, no matter the titles. His speech may seem harsh, but the idea is defended and heard.
There will never be another Kobe Bryant / Shaquille O’Neal duo. LeBron James and Anthony Davis will never catch up with us, and we didn’t want to catch up with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the time. Our legacy and impact with Kobe will never be matched, or even emulated.
I don’t want us to get into a situation where everyone calls them “next Shaq and Kobe”, because there can’t be “next us”. Magic and Kareem couldn’t have been us, and we couldn’t have been them. Just as we couldn’t have been LeBron and AD …
Shaquille O’Neal’s idea is simple: you have to stop constantly comparing players and eras, and appreciate mythical duos for what they are. But hard not to see behind these comments the desire of the Shaq to stay at the top of the hierarchy of the best duos of the Lakers.
In Shaq’s mind, one should appreciate the accomplishments of each duo without necessarily highlighting them. concurrence … But in a league where everyone wants to prove their superiorrity, that seems utopian.
