Kobe Bryant was so dominant that he — literally — changed modern NBA history. His dominance with the Los Angeles Lakers paved the way for today’s way of building a team.
If you don’t take our word for it, you should ask Dwyane Wade. In a recent interview, the legendary shooting guard admitted that Kobe’s fifth ring made him realize that the league was in trouble.
That’s why he reached out to LeBron James and Chris Bosh to put together a Big 3 in Miami, which led to them dominating the Eastern Conference and winning two rings.
Kobe’s Dominance Led To The Heat’s Big 3
“As soon as Kobe ran and grabbed that ball [after the 2010 championship] I was like, ‘LeBron, so what you gonna do'”? Wade admitted. “That was our summer free agency. They were dominating. Kobe was winning all these rings. I was like, ‘Hold on, now he got five and we got 1? Like no’. That changed the league.”
Nowadays, all teams want to have a Big 3 of their own to compete at the highest level. Notably, Bryant had his fair share of star teammates, but he never had a Big 3 of his own.
It’s ironic to see all those memes about Stephen Curry and the Phoenix Suns stacking up players to beat an aging LeBron James when in reality, it was James the one who teamed up to beat the Black Mamba. That’s influence. That’s dominance.