Los Angeles Lakers: 6 reasons why Kobe Bryant was wrong about winning 12 rings

Jerry West was on his lifeboat when the Lakers ship was sinking!

As great a player Jerry West was for the Los Angeles Lakers, the man had the “Midas Touch” as a general manager. Nothing was more evident of that fact than what he accomplished in 1996.

At the time the Lakers were in a bidding war with the Orlando Magic for a top-level free agent named Shaquille O’Neal. Even at that time, that Lakers were strapped by the salary cap.

Led by West, the Lakers basically gutted the roster (Sound familiar to anyone?) to get the room in the cap to sign Shaq to a seven-year $121 million dollar contract.

But for the Lakers to get the money, the Lakers traded incumbent center, Vlade Divac to Charlotte for some skinny high school kid named Kobe Bryant.

Soon after, these two players became Shaq and Kobe, who turned the Lakers into a 3-peat dynasty. As amazing as this feat was for West to get this pair together, he worked even harder to get them to play together despite their differences.

The stress of getting the deals done, the drama between Kobe and Shaq and his distant (West says none) relationship with Phil Jackson led to his exit after the Lakers first title. His saga was portrayed years ago in SI years ago.

Jerry West was one of the only members of the Lakers organization that BOTH players respected fully. When West left, the wedge slowly got wider over the next two title runs that fueled the egos of both players.

Phil Jackson did not see the big picture of getting both players to get along for the sake of winning championships long-term. West did. By the time the 2004 NBA Finals came along, injuries to Karl Malone and a totally fractured locker room gave in to a Detroit team that played together.

Shaquille O’Neal always credits his success to the bench players that he calls “the others”. Most forget that was a major factor in the dynasty.