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

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Published 2019-09-06

As far as basketball goes, Kobe Bryant had what he needed by 2010. Without Shaq sharing his spotlight, Bryant won consecutive NBA championships, proving he could do that as the Lakers' primary superstar. But he wasn't done, and he wanted to stick around in Los Angeles, so the Lakers acted accordingly.

Or at least they tried to. LA -- run by a complex, ever-changing, and sometimes nepotistic front office -- soon realized the core that earned them back-to-back rings wasn't going to cut it against some rising Western Conference powerhouses. So they swung a huge trade to bring in superstar Chris Paul. When that trade got vetoed by the league, things started to spiral: Upset co-stars led to desperate dismissals, which led to desperate acquisitions, which led to diminishing organic growth and eventually a whole lot of losing.

The Lakers said farewell to Kobe with their worst seasons as a franchise. This episode of Collapse explains how they fell so precipitously within the twilight of their departing star.

Written and produced by Seth Rosenthal
Shot and edited by Jiazhen Zhang
Motion graphics by Michael Das

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All Comments (21)

@RenegadesReact 4 years ago

This hurts even more now. RIP Kobe
@mattd.717 4 years ago

Was gonna comment a Steve Nash joke... But I think I'll pass
@senorfish2503 4 years ago

The fact that Kobe is dead is absolutely insane.
@SuperEldair 4 years ago

Came here to pay my respects for Kobe...
@mayitakeyourhatsir8632 4 years ago

Can you imagine having your dad die, so your sister becomes your boss and forces you to resign. Shit's wild
@JJonslaught 4 years ago

Winning 2 rings is worth losing for 5 years. A lot of teams have been losing since forever and have nothing to show for it.
@viewernewest 3 years ago

I can't see Llamar Odom without hearing Stephen A Smith ranting, "By the way, his first move as the executive was to sign Llamar Odom, who was on crack!".
@gabesachse5391 4 years ago

RIP. One of the greatest to ever play sports. This day will go down as the day the Mamba went down forever, way too soon.
@spencersheen3893 4 years ago

As a Laker fan, this one's going to hurt. At least we're not the Knicks tho
@sheeshshoot123 4 years ago

I just discovered SB nation yesterday and I can't stop watching. You guys are like mini 30 for 30s and I love how much you hate Skip Bayless.
@nevelefilms7336 4 years ago

The most surprising aspect of this video is Kobe smiling in the Laker team photos during the sub 30 win period
@Imac7065 4 years ago

A story you guys should look into... Anthony Carter's agent forgetting to submit his clients papers to exercise his player option after the 2002-03 season. That single action had a domino effect that changed the history of the Lakers, Clippers, the Heat, and the NBA as a whole. The effect of that one mistake let the Heat sign Elton Brand (clippers matched) which led to Lamar Odom, which lead to Shaq, which lead to a Heat title, which lead to a Heat rebuild that spawned the Labron / Bosh / Wade era. Fascinating story if you do a deep dive on it. One mistake by a dumb agent lead to 3 NBA titles and a 4 year dynasty.
@SuPeRGrEyFoX25 4 years ago

So we just gonna ignore Trevor Ariza for that first Championship?
@jessedellross3245 4 years ago

There is a pattern with most of these collapse videos: the people in management or ownership usually messing things up or trying to fix what isn’t broken.
@detailsmove 4 years ago

"basketball experts were thrilled" shows Trump tweet 😂
@paulnelson1208 4 years ago

Those pictures of Lebron and AD look like they're looking at that history and being like "what have we gotten ourselves into..."
@itisnottaken4444 4 years ago

That 2011 veto really set them back. Had that gone through, the Lakers wouldn't have felt the need to scramble and DH would've joined as a free agent. David Stern single handedly stunted the advancement of post 2010 Lakers.
@dommarsemanes3604 4 years ago

You didn't even specify that Kobe almost played 40+mins per game in 2013 just to bring tha Lakers to the playoffs, toring his achilles in the process.
@dillonturnquist2753 4 years ago

I'll still never get over that Chris Paul trade Veto. You know Kobe has been reminding crusty ass David Stern about it everyday in the afterlife. RIP Mamba
@bombeofam4670 4 years ago

I want a another beef history like bledsoe and rozier or rus and dame