The Superteam Disaster That Broke Kobe Bryant
In the summer of 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers built what looked to be one of the most elite super teams in the history of the NBA. And yet, less than 12 months later, that same team would be swept out of the playoffs with a new coach, a fractured locker room, and Kobe Bryant, the one constant, would walk off the floor with a torn Achilles after trying to drag the whole thing to the finish line. I made a move that I made a million times, and it’s popped.
This is a story about the crossroads of generational talent. I just couldn’t get them on the same page. They didn’t like each other. Unreal expectations. It wasn’t meant to happen. And how the 2013 Los Angeles Lakers became a cautionary tale of what it means to build the hopes of a franchise on dreams versus reality. You better believe it.
Steve Nash is joining the Los Angeles Lakers. Howard going to the Lakers. With this team as presently constructed and presently assembled, you get Steve Nash with Kobe. Let’s get to Dwight. He’s the best big man in the game. This team has the potential to be the greatest team in NBA history. To understand why the 2013 Lakers collapsed, you have to first understand why they built this team in the first place.
The Lakers were just 2 years removed from the franchise’s 16th championship, a ring that had been particularly special to star Kobe Bryant, who had now won two of his five rings without Shaquille O’Neal. However, the soontobe 34year-old Bryant was aging. And while he still was playing at an elite level, Los Angeles knew they would need to upgrade their roster to have a chance to compete in the dangerous Western Conference.
The first attempt at this had come in late 2011 when the Lakers tried to trade for rising star point guard Chris Paul at the height of his career until the league itself vetoed the deal. Our other big story tonight, a Suns standout joining a rival team. You better believe it, Steve Nash is joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now, just months later, the Lakers would try a second attempt at pairing Kobe with an elite point guard for the first time in his career. On July 11th, 2012, the Lakers would acquire the aging Steve Nash. A two-time MVP and one of the smartest offensive players the league has ever seen. While Nash had been a rival of Kobe for years, his ability to organize games and orchestrate an offense were undeniable, and the Lakers wanted a system in place that took some of the offensive workload off of Kobe’s shoulders.
Circus shot by Steve N with his back to the basket. On August 10th, 2012, the Lakers would pull off an even bigger move. Dwight Howard Holiday for Howard. Oh man. One of the most dominant players in the game at the time. The three-time defensive player of the year was meant to be the next pillar of the franchise.
But this is the Los Angeles Lakers, a spotlight as bright as any in sports. and the dreams on paper could have never calculated the pressures that lied ahead. Over his career, Steve Nash had made a name for himself as one of the game’s greatest minds. He could control the game like no one else with an ability to make plays across the floor. Nash had helped transform the franchise into a contender out west, having led the Suns to the Western Conference Finals three times.
In recent years, Kobe had been carrying a heavy offensive load, pushing himself to the limit in order to keep Los Angeles competitive. With Nash came much needed structure, which then meant easier shots for Bryant and less wear and tear on the face of the franchise. Only the Lakers didn’t acquire 2006 Steve Nash. They acquired a 38-year-old Steve Nash, who while still being brilliant on the floor, now relied on timing and health to be successful. Almost immediately, the season would take both those things away.
Early in the season, Steve Nash suffered a small fracture in his leg after a collision and in turn ended up missing 24 games, derailing the continuity that the Lakers desperately needed. At just 26 years old, a prime Dwight Howard was supposed to be the anchor not only of the Lakers defense, but their future.
Once viewed as a lovable, high energy fan favorite, Dwight’s public persona had taken a hit. And similar to a young Shaquille O’Neal in the ’90s, Howard would be making the move from Florida to the West Coast. Well, nowhere in the NBA are expectations higher than here in LA. the addition of Dwight Howard to the Lakers. How comfortable are you in this jersey and what adjustments do you have to make? I’m I’m happy to be here.
You know, I think this it’s a it’s a blessing for me. Uh I know it’s a lot of adjustments, a lot of things I got to get used to, but I’m ready for it. You know, I just want to do whatever it takes for our team to win. However, by the time he arrived in Los Angeles, Dwight wasn’t arriving as the clean, unstoppable version people remembered.
Just months earlier, he had undergone back surgery and would later admit something that matters a lot when you rewatch the 2013 season. He wasn’t able to properly rehab himself back and came back earlier than he should have. Dwight Howard is coming off pretty serious back surgery. I’m going to say it again. Dwight Howard is limited offensively. Then layer in the expectations that come with being the presumed future face of the Lakers.
Los Angeles didn’t just want Dwight to be great. They wanted him to be Shaq. They wanted him to immediately become the future. And they wanted him to do it while adjusting to Kobe’s world. A world where accountability is everything. And it’s delivered in a way that only Kobe Bryant knew how. It’s difficult playing with Kobe. It is.
Why is it difficult playing with Kobe? Because one, it’s an expectation, you know, winning. he wouldn’t win that last one. And then two, it’s like everybody expecting me and Kobe to be like the new Kobe and Shaq. And I’m just coming off injury. I’m still dealing with all the mental from being in Orlando and now I got to go to LA and I’m playing with Kobe Bryant. I watched them play. They beat us in the finals.
One, I was already pissed cuz I had to go to LA. Dwight would enter the 2013 season with an identity crisis. Was he the dominant postcore the team should play through, or was he the defensive finisher who benefits from Kobe and Nash? And throughout the season, that question never really gets a consistent answer. Some nights, it looks like the Lakers are trying to force fit him into being the central star.
Other nights, he’s asked to be a role player behind others, all while still battling a lingering back injury that’s holding him back from playing at his best. What’s going on y’all? It’s Trice and I want to thank Momentous for sponsoring this video. If you’re like me, your physical conditioning and performance is a huge part of your life.
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Click the link or scan my QR and use my code Trice for 35% off your first order. Now there’s no more excuse. Let’s get to work. Again, I want to thank Momentous for sponsoring this video. The New Look Lakers had been a top two favorite to win the 2013 NBA Finals, sharing the league’s highest expectations with the defending champion Miami Heat.
A team who had similarly formed a super team of its own two years prior. Just five games into the season, the Lakers would find themselves off to a 1-4 start. And on November 9th, the Lakers would fire head coach Mike Brown. Then three days later, Los Angeles would hire offensive mastermind Mike Deanton to be the team’s next coach.
Having made a name for himself in Phoenix with Steve Nash running his offense to perfection, Deanton is one of the most influential offensive coaches of his era. Now, with Nash returning from his injury, who better to implement a new offense quickly mid-season than the coach who was most familiar with the point guard. The issue was the Lakers weren’t built like a Deanon team.
His teams thrived on the fast break, getting up and down the court quickly with a high volume offense. The Lakers roster was built like a power team. big bodies, post skill, and a starring Kobe Bryant who thrives on control. The Lakers were now faced with the task of rebranding mid-season, learning a new philosophy and molding their roster to it, while also dealing with injuries and constant lineup changes.
Despite having a starting lineup that featured five allstars to start the season, the team was now left trying to make do with the best fit. And Kobe Bryant was left trying to hold it all together. I just couldn’t get them on the same page. They didn’t like each other. It was it was contentious. Uh we didn’t really have the talent. Uh you know, you want to play Steve, but he wasn’t up to it. Then he wasn’t even there.
You know, Kobe was older, still good, still great, but you know, very, very tough personality. He and Dwight didn’t didn’t mesh. The Kobe Bryant era following his 2010 Finals victory is one that is often forgotten in Legacy Talks. A player who was notoriously obsessive, there was only one goal on the mind of Bryant entering the final chapter of his career, winning a sixth championship.
I would like to know if you’re prepared to do what that other team did and and count the number of championships you guys might win. No, I just I’m just want to I just want to count up to six. Rank those three in order of importance. I would say uh getting the six championship is number one and then I would say getting the sixth championship is number two and then getting the six championship is number three.
In many ways, this hunger for one more ring would be a detriment, leading Bryant to push his teammates and himself to their limits. He knew this was his last chance to win it all, and he was running out of time. 2013 was supposed to be the season Kobe was able to take a step back, but midway through the season, Kobe wouldn’t be taking a specialized role within a system.
he would be the only thing holding the system together. Rather than being more handsoff, the instability within the roster and locker room had resulted in Bryant having to hold on as tight as ever, doing everything in his power to keep the team afloat. Instead of Steve Nash lightening Kobe’s responsibility on offense, Kobe is now forced to carry more in his absence.
And instead of Dwight becoming the foundational piece, the Lakers are constantly trying to make the pieces fit around Kobe’s urgency. After a slow start to the season, the team is now chasing playoff position, trying to overcome a 25 and 29 record entering the All-Star break. Not only were they chasing the eighth seed, but they were doing so while also still searching for chemistry and consistent health.
Despite returning from his injury to play 50 games, Steve Nash would never quite find his rhythm with the Lakers, averaging his lowest number of assists since his fourth year in the league. For anybody to make it work, I thought Steve could, and that was Steve from Phoenix days, and because he got hurt, never could quite come back, never got a chance to make it work. Dwight continued to struggle between the managing of pain and expectations as a Laker.
He notoriously would promise to play better in the second half of the season, but still failed to properly respond to what the team needed from him. It wasn’t meant to happen. You know, looking back on it, I wish it happened, but I don’t think it was the understanding that we couldn’t that we could and we should have. Yeah.
With time cuz it was so many expectations and I’m going through my own with trying to recover from this back surgery and then tearing my labroom and it’s like, man, how do I deal with this? somebody that I grew up watching as a child, but now we teammates. We just played each other in the finals. All right. So, Kobe did what Kobe does.
He tries to bend reality to his will. Brian goes to work. Brian the drive. Kobe Bryant. Kobe three and the buzzer. Hello. With the crowd roaring, right-handed dribble. Gray comes out to double. Kobe around him. Kobe down the middle. Kobe Bryant. In an effort to fight for playoff contention, Kobe Bryant would continue to carry the weight of the team, winning the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week title three times between March and April.
He was the team’s go-to option, the primary defender, and averaged over 30 points per game during the stretch, pushing himself to his limits. a formula that would lead to one of the most infamous moments of his career. Again, he’s struggling. The most telltale sign of an Achilles tendon rupture is when an athlete says, “It felt like somebody kicked me in the back of my leg,” which is what he said.
He said, he goes, “Yeah, I know.” And he goes, “You know, I’ve been try to walk on my heel to see if I could run on my heel and see if I could play that way.” I said, “That it don’t work that way either.” He goes, “Well, can we go in the back and maybe you could tape it up? I could finish the game.” I said, “It doesn’t work that way either.” I said, “But here’s what I’ll let you do.
” So, you got fouled. So, there’s two free throws. Come. I said, “I’ll let you shoot the free throws.” It’s hurting. But the Lakers down by two and they want him and beat him at the free throw line. Got it for me to take you through, man. I made a move that I make a million times and spot. You’ve had an pretty unbelievable career.
Is this the biggest dis disappointment of it considering all everything that was involved? Yeah, by far. You work so hard, you know, to put ourselves in a position where, you know, we control our faith and I certainly have done a lot of work. Um, you know, to prepare myself. It’s just uh it’s just luck.
The Lakers attempt at a super team didn’t collapse in one moment, but that single moment revealed what it had become. A roster built to protect Kobe, to extend his career and his legacy that ended up costing him the final chapters of his career. The Lakers would finish the regular season 45 and 37, sneaking into the playoffs as the eight seed.
However, they would inevitably draw the Spurs, a dynasty who was on a mission to return to the finals. Missing Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles would be swept in four games by the eventual Western Conference Champion Spurs. It would be the Lakers first time exiting the playoffs in the first round since 2007. Despite improved play in the second half of the season, that summer, Dwight Howard would opt to leave Los Angeles via free agency.
And with his exit, the future portion of the Lakers plan disappeared immediately. And I was like, man, I’m going to come back and we’re going to try to win in LA. And it didn’t work out. And I made an emotional decision to leave, you know. So, I I do regret that, you know, making a decision just based off my emotions and how I was feeling about, you know, like we talked on the show yesterday, how the fans were, uh, how I felt the organization was during that time with me and Kobe.
and I didn’t really make a smart logical decision. I just made something, you know, I made a emotional decision at the time. The following year, just 12 games into the season, Steve Nash would announce his retirement from the NBA. You know, we made the playoffs and all that, but we were never really a threat. And I thought we had a real shot if Steve could have got well. Kobe Bean Bryant would never play another NBA playoff game.
2013 had been his last chance to make one final run at a championship. And with that, you realize what this super team in Los Angeles really was. A high stakes attempt to compress a championship run into a single season with three generations of stars who were at completely different points in their careers. All under a franchise that didn’t have the luxury of time to waste.
The 2013 Los Angeles Lakers are remembered as one of the most disappointing teams of all time. In many ways, they’ve served as a cautionary tale to franchises about the importance of not falling in love with names over results. But the real lesson isn’t that super teams don’t work. It’s that super teams can’t survive when the team is built on idealized versions of players, players they used to be.
When the organization assumes that talent will automatically create an identity while forgetting the importance of building the chemistry it takes to win. The 2013 Lakers didn’t fail because they lacked star power. They failed because the ability to balance health, expectations, and timelines ended up being too much to overcome. And in the end, it cost the Lakers their star.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
