“I sacrificed a lot playing with Shaq and that’s why I have only one MVP”: When Kobe Bryant got candid about his lack of individual accolades when with Lakers

Kobe Bryant once stated that the only reason as to why he had a single MVP was because he played with Shaq on the Lakers. 

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal made for perhaps the greatest ‘one-two’ punch in NBA history. That statement however, is where the problem lied between the two. ‘One-two’ suggests that one of them was the secondary option when in reality, both Hall-of-Famers knew they were more than capable of being a no. 1 option on championship contender. 

During their 8 seasons together, the Los Angeles Lakers made 4 runs to the NBA Finals and won three championships. Shaq won the Finals MVP in all three of those Finals trips along with a regular season MVP in 2000.

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Sure, Kobe Bryant was racking up All-Star and All-NBA nods throughout this period (two 2nd teams and one 1st team from ‘00-‘02) but everybody at the time knew it was Shaq’s squad. 

This eventually led to them not gelling well together due to both wanting to be the ‘alpha’ on the team. The summer of 2004 saw the Lakers trading away Shaq to keep the younger guard. 

Kobe Bryant on why he only has a single MVP in a 20 year career. 

Kobe Bryant is undoubtedly one of the most talented players the NBA has ever seen on both ends of the floor. He remains to be the only player other than Michael Jordan to be named to the All-Defense 1st team in the same year as winning a scoring title, in multiple seasons.

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Despite his brilliance on the court, Kobe managed to win merely a single regular season MVP. Guys like Steve Nash, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis have twice the amount of MVPs the ‘Black Mamba’ has and he has a reason as to why this is the case. 

“Because I played with Shaq. It’s that simple. A lot of the time, we cancelled each other out. I sacrificed a lot playing with him. I really did. I did it for the success of the team. If I never played with him, my numbers would’ve been ridiculous.”