Kobe Bryant is one of the most talented players ever to don a Los Angeles Lakers jersey. The 18-time All-Star and 15-time All-NBA selection played at an incredibly high level on both sides of the ball, and without him, the Lakers probably wouldn’t have won five titles from 2000 to 2010.
Although, there’s a strong argument to be made that for three of the Lakers’ five titles during that time, Bryant played second fiddle to big man Shaquille O’Neal and wasn’t even the team’s top player. O’Neal won three consecutive Finals MVP awards in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
The big man also won one MVP award and finished in the top three in the voting for the hardware every year during that span, while Bryant never ended up better than fifth.
Former Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas mentioned Bryant’s time playing alongside O’Neal when arguing that the former was a “robin” for the lion’s share of the titles he won in the NBA.
"3 of his championships [Kobe] was the sidekick… Shaq was the dominant force."
Is Gil trippin' for saying Kobe was Robin to Shaq's Batman during the Lakers dynasty 🤔 pic.twitter.com/nhCkdJRClE
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) December 18, 2024
If Bryant was indeed the second-best player on the Lakers when they won three titles in a row, he merits consideration for being the greatest second fiddle in the history of the league. After all, the Philadelphia native was still one of the top scorers in the league when Los Angeles was stacking up titles, even if he maybe didn’t score at the level his partner in crime did.
Across 214 total regular-season games during the Lakers’ three-peat years, Bryant averaged 25.4 points per game while shooting an efficient 46.7 percent from the field. He consistently found himself in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation during that stretch as well, when he averaged 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per contest.
Bryant also had his fair share of playoff heroics for the Lakers in the early 2000s.
He had a particularly great playoff run in the year 2001, considering he averaged 29.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game across 16 appearances for Los Angeles. The Lakers ended those playoffs by beating Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in five games in the NBA Finals, and Los Angeles lost just one game in its entire title run.
