Gilbert Arenas has been quite vocal about the burning trends in the NBA recently. A former NBA superstar himself, Agent Zero has a deep understanding of the league and its inner workings. Recently in an interview with VladTV, he discussed the relationship between players and coaches in the modern NBA.
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He also mentioned how star players can have the final say on whether coaches can retain their head coaching positions for a certain franchise. To further illustrate his point, Arenas mentioned how Phil Jackson was asked to join in when Shaquille O’Neal was being ousted by the Lakers in 2004.
Arenas pointed out that the Lakers HC’s disagreement with franchise centerpiece, Kobe Bryant led to the debacle.
The Black Mamba and the Big Diesel were at each other’s throats in a very public feud before their split. It got to a point where even Phil Jackson got involved. So because the Zen Master sided with Shaq, many believe Kobe influenced his departure.
“The star player…if he don’t like the coach, then that coach is getting fired. I’m pretty sure that happened… let’s say with Trae Young over there. Could have been… if you don’t get along with the coach, like, ‘It’s me or him!’… that f**king s*** always happens,” Arenas told Vlad TV.
“You know with Kobe when Shaq left, and he was like, ‘Hey you can take Phil with you! You can take Phil with you! I don’t need Phil for the s**t I’m tryna do! I don’t need him talking about winning when I’m trying to show the world who I am!’ Sometimes players got to go through that mode,” he added.
NBA franchises nowadays are quick to fire coaches. One bad season or just a string of losses is enough for even the finest of coaches to lose their jobs. Over the summer, several of them, including Doc Rivers, Nick Nurse, Monty Williams, and Mike Budenholzer, lost their jobs.
It was an intriguing phenomenon, one that got many questioning the power coaches have in a team. Mainstream media still believes that coaches have a lot of say, but there are those who say otherwise. Arenas believes a lot of power actually lies with a team’s star player.
Arenas explained that more often than not, star players get the final say. To prove his point, he cited the infamous feud between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Head coach Phil Jackson notoriously took O’Neal’s side prompting Kobe to take action.
If reports are to be believed, Kobe was influential in getting Jackson out and was quite boisterous about his role in it. But just a year after being removed, Jackson returned. Both he and Bryant made amends and went on to find much success.
