How the Lakers fell from contention to ruin during Kobe Bryant’s final seasons

RIP. Legend.

No one wanted to sign there a watch Kobe take 40 shots a game

And then Kobe retired from life.

Lakers pattern:

Draft players like Randle, Russ, Ingram, Zubac, Ball
Trade them away and more of the future for 1 ring and suffer again

Not much has changed for the Lakers since wasting kobe's final seasons. They have 1 Disney World ring and a total of 3 winning seasons since 2013. They're doing it again.

When he said best pg I thought jeremy lin

Metta is literally one of my favorite players man

It didn't help that Kobe made 48 million dollars his last two years and scarcely played

Jim Buss and Ego, that’s all I gotta say

You know he said basketball reasons because he knew we would become A competition so yea you know

Everyone was getting mad because of the lakers

They got trough the first round because of phil

Great video. Watching Kobe in his final game ever was like the ending of a movie. And he knew it too. 50 points. No reason to watch, except that you knew Kobe was going to ball out... and ball out he did.

The Chris Paul trade getting squashed was a load of crap. But they pivoted well after that, and to no avail.

They're in good hands now with Jeanie Buss running everything. Shes the one person that deserves everything shes earned.

And the Lakers are the Lakers. They will always find a eay at some point or another to be legacy. They will never go a lengthy amount of time where they are mediocre. They're always a meeting, or a draft away from contention. And thats probably for the best.

I was kid when all this happened so it’s nuts to gets some clarity on what happened

They should of gotten brain and other pg if they couod not get CP3.

the one W that David Stern ended up doing

glad to have seen the Lakers implode, screw 'em

also thanks for reminding me that Aldridge chose the Spurs rather than LA - what a waste of opportunity that was to watch him on the Spurs

I think the lakers had the right idea. Pay Kobe the final contract as a thank you and secure the retirement tour, while TANKING. The issue is the lakers just had either bad luck in the lottery or they picked the wrong players in Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, and Lonzo Ball. They also traded away Brandon Ingram albeit for AD but if the Lakers tried to trade AD back to the pelicans for Ingram straight up I’m sure New Orleans says no first.

He never would have torn his Achilles if he wasn’t run into the ground by mike dantoni in back to back 48 min games

Krazy how they wouldn’t take Kobe’s input but is bending over for lebron rn

The Lakers really know how to draft 😂

Who’s here after Deangelo Russell just came back

About those peaks and valleys...

Then LA won another title during COVID season, which doesn't really count considering the format change and location of the playoffs.

Craziest part about that 2013 season is that if Kobe never would have torn his achilles, he arguably could have won his 3rd scoring title in his career

Funny how if a team just rebuilds with their aging hall of famer still on the roster after it becomes clear everything is going downhill, they would probably get a roster that would be good enough support their star on a serious run after about 3 years. Which would typically still fit within the window of their career. Which is infinitely better than trying to hodge podge available free agents and trade to make patchwork improvements on a ship thats already half flooded. Crazy how teams continue to make the same mistakes ad infinitum.

He won without Shaq,but had Pau Gasol and Ron Artest. He did not win with a bunch of scrubs.

Honestly, I think it’s a combination of two things on why Kobe didn’t win another championship, number one is that Dr. Bus’s idiotic son Jimmy was in complete control of the basketball side of things walked in the locker room or sent to Mitch in the locker room while they were on the road in Dallas in 2011 and basically in front of the entire team said that after they were done with the playoffs this year, everyone on the coaching staff will no longer be with the Lakers, which severely deflated them for one.

The other reason is I believe Kobe’s prime was from 2003 to 2010. A lot of times people will compare Kobe to Tim Duncan but Tim Duncan had a huge advantage over what Kobe went through in that Tim Duncan didn’t have to go through a complete rebuilding process in the middle of his prime Like Kobe did. After Shaquille O’Neal left, it took them three years to build the right role players around him so that was three or four years of his prime wasted because the team that was built around him sucked except Lamar Odom.

When you really look at Kobe in when his prime was ending, it’s pretty obvious that around the same time that Artest, Gasol Fisher and Odom We’re also no longer in their mid-20s anymore and adding a Steve Nash. He was actually older than all of them in a hurt Dwight Howard wasn’t going to really help. Especially when the idiotic son of Dr. Bus had the same kind of sickness that Jerry Krause had with the balls and wanted to fix something that wasn’t broke just so he would get credit for it. He completely put an aging team with coaches that didn’t coach to their strengths. Mike, D’Antoni, and Mike Brown were not the guys that needed to be coaching those players.

But even still when you look at the rotten that those Lakers had I can’t say for sure that even if Phil Jackson and his staff stayed on that they would’ve one another because again, those guys all came together in 2008 and they made it to the finals three times in a row as they were all entering either their late 20s or early 30s.

Proves that without Kobe on the team Shaq wouldve never had those rings. Everytime he had help. Always the bridesmaid but never the bride😅

Looking back most of the problems post 2010 can be traced to bad luck, that stupid veto derailed a completely legal trade that Dan Gilbert and Mark Cuban whined about. Basketball Reasons my ass everyone knows it was because the other owners were whining that the Lakers were too good. And poor health ruined a potential super team.

The rest is due to Jim Buss being a petty moron. Mike D'antoni was the worst possible choice to coach an old team, yes let's get a guy whose whole system is predicated on being as quick and perimeter oriented as possible when your 2 guards are both 34 and 38 and your starting center and power forward are both dominant inside presences lol, all because he couldn't stomach Phil Jackson his sister's BF and more importantly Lakers legend coming back to right the ship it had to be because of Jim Buss not Jeanie. Whiffing on free agents because they could all see Jim was running a clown show. I could go on with how bad Jim ran the Lakers but the results speak for themselves. In the end we're lucky LeBron came here and AD decided to sign with Klutch.

Once LeBron is retired we'll find out how good or bad Pelinka is as a GM right now it ain't looking so good though.

Stern intervening between the Lakers trade for Chris Paul was so weird

This imo is the most interesting part of Kobe’s career. Still a great player. Like melo 09 but with great D. Instead of ‘98 MJ anymore. But those 2011 & 12 teams were very intriguing. If they don’t blow game 1 of the Dallas ‘11 semis. Maybe they win & easily take down Miami for the 🏆. Also In ‘12 a great defensive team that could’ve at least made the WCF if they played the D they did in the season. And if they had cp they would’ve took down Miami in the 12 finals.

13…too many what ifs but they would of not gotten swept I’m r1 if Kobe was there.

"More peaks lie ahead." Lakers in 2022 :|.

Kobe went to 3 straight finals on his own team, won 2, and still ppl talk like he can’t win without Shaq.

If he would’ve won in 08 and 3-peat, it’s interesting to think just how much more they’d fs respect him

Can't say the Lakers can't draft. Imagine if the Lakers actually knew patience and kept a starting five of Ball, Russell, Ingram, Randle, Zubac

Started the season losing and never looked back Is a extremely simple line that is extremely funny and perfect place to put it where ya did. Kudos to whoever wrote this.

“Basketball experts were thrilled” with a picture of a Donald Trump tweet is too funny

kobe was a rapist

I hope they make Season 2 of Winning Time

It still kills me the whole Chris Paul trade veto

Let’s face it .. Kobe was the cause of Lakers issues in his final years, they paid much more then they should have at his age and no one really wanted to play with him do to his personality.., I love Kobe but let’s be honest.. Our Lakers sacrificed much of their future to show Kobe respect in his last years.. and we’re still trying to overcome that.. Thank God LaBron decided to come to help right the ship, but we’re still trying to overcome that damage…

Bro Phil Jackson has more than 10 championships

Man we had to wait for like 10 years for the Lakers to get another title. Sadly, Kobe couldn't able to witness it as he died earlier that year in that tragic helicopter crash along with his daughter GiGi and 7 others so instead the 2020 Lakers championshipbwas dedicated to him. RIP Kobe.

It's an interesting story but not gonna lie, Lakers fans gotta realize that it is not in fact normal to have several rings in a decade lmao. The fact that they even got one recently with Lebron is proof that their franchise, out of sheer popularity, gets all time greats and ends up getting rings.

The mid 2010s Lakers was ugly as hell, but the Lakers are still one of the most well of teams ever.

Thank God, this isn't a Clara Morris one so I can listen to it and not worry about dying of unfunny.

They paid Kobe for his past accomplishments

Lakers went down like a helicopter

The CP3 trade is what broke EVERYTHING. If we could’ve had him, the future would’ve been DIFFERENT.

if that HBO Lakers show ever reaches to this point the whole Phil Jackson and Buss Family is gonna be good

From my view, it’s a combination of these reasons:
1. Hiring the wrong head coaches after post-Phil Jackson era.
2. Inability of Lakers organisation to attract stars that were in their prime.