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11 months agoIt’s likely Shaq and Kobe from 2000-01 to 2001-02. By that time, Kobe was beginning his prime, and already a top 5 player in the league, arguable top 3. The only players you’d take over him for sure were Shaq and Duncan. And even Duncan was more a product of the times than anything against Kobe, who performed well during each of those series.
After that, it’s a matter of whether you are specifying back to back titles specifically. If you aren’t, I’m also likely taking 1981-82 to 1982-83 Kareem and Magic over Curry and KD. Also 2010-11 to 2011-12 Wade and Lebron should likely be mentioned as well in that case, though I’d probably still lean Curry and KD over Wade/LeBron.
Was Shaq the best player on the team in 99-00? Absolutely. No doubt.
I wouldn’t define it as a carry job. This wasn’t Duncan in 03 or Hakeem in 94. Either of those guys would have killed for 21 year old Kobe. The only guards you could argue were better than Kobe in that year were Gary Payton and Jason Kidd. And I’d take Kobe over Kidd as a secondary scorer. Kobe was one of the 10 best players in the league that year. The only better two way players were Garnett, Duncan, and Payton.
Kobe was 22.5/6.3/4.9/2.5 stocks during the regular season. (Good for 12th in the league in PPG). Before he got injured in the Finals, he was 22.8/4.4/4.5/3.1 stocks in the first 3 rounds of the playoffs.
Could you take Allen, Carter, T-Mac, Redd, AI and still win with that year of Shaq? Possibly. But none of those players were the two-way perimeter player that Kobe was, and none of them were better than Kobe that year anyway. Keep in mind, the Lakers were taken to Game 5 in Round one, and Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals. I don’t see those players making the Lakers better.