The 2002 Lakers capped off one of the great runs in NBA history.
Those early aughts Lakers teams were built around one of the most dominant centers ever, the second-greatest shooting guard of all time, and led by the most decorated head coach in league history. From 2000 to 2002, the Lakers won back-to-back-to-back NBA titles, and they remain the last team to pull off that vaunted feat.
We decided to take a look at what became of the key figures from that legendary team.
The statistics below are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.
Shaquille O'Neal was THE star of the Lakers dynasty, a former league MVP who won the Finals MVP award for each of the Lakers titles, in addition to being a larger-than-life personality off the court.
Shaq would later rather famously have a falling out with Kobe and the Lakers organization, resulting in his getting traded to the Miami Heat in 2004. He won another title with the Heat in 2006 and kept playing in the league for various teams until 2011. He is currently an in-studio analyst for TNT alongside Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson, and makes more money in endorsements and business deals than he ever did as a player.
Kobe Bryant was only 23-years-old at the time, but he was already an established All-NBA caliber player and one of the faces of the league by 2002. In fact, he became the youngest player in NBA history to win three titles.
Source: USA Today
See the rest of the story at Business Insider