10. The 2004-2005 Los Angeles Lakers missing the playoffs in Kobe’s first year without Shaq
When the Lakers were mulling over trading Shaquille O’Neal because of the feud between him and fellow star Kobe Bryant, there were plenty of Lakers fans who knew it was a bad move. However, it was a move that had to be made, but they probably could have got a much larger return than one first-round pick, Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant.
Only Odom went on to win a championship with the Lakers and the team struggled mightily in their first season without the most dominant big man of his era. Shaq on the other hand went to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in his first season and won the title in only his second season with the Heat, alongside new running mate Dwyane Wade.
Shaq even had an iconic rap line talking to the Lakers franchise and more specifically Kobe at a New York City club after this season singing
“Kobe couldn’t do it without me. Now that’s the difference from first to last place, Kobe tell me how my a** taste.”
That line was the peak of the rivalry between Kobe and Shaq and actually encapsulated perfectly what happened to Lakers following Shaq’s departure. They went from a perennial contender for the championship the prior four years to a team that could not even make the playoffs.
This Lakers team went from 56-26 in 2003-04 to an abysmal 34-48 the following season. The biggest reason for their struggles was that they were missing that rim protector in the paint, they ranked dead last in defensive rating that season after being a top 8 defensive rated team the year before.
Expectations without Shaq were not championship or bust, but they definitely had the playoffs at least in mind. The biggest disappointment from this season had to be seeing Shaq be successful elsewhere while the Lakers struggled to find any sense of continuity.
This was the season that landed Kobe on the Carls Jr. “Those who endure, conquer poster.”