The story of the Lakers’ 2004-05 season will read as a cautionary tale about what happens to a franchise with the hubris to trade one of the game’s dominant players when such a decision still amounts to a roll of the dice.
It will end with the Lakers written into history alongside the first Michael Jordan-less Bulls team as the only two in the past 29 years to go from playing in the NBA Finals one season to missing the playoffs the next.
Everything that could go wrong has since Shaquille O’Neal was traded to Miami and Kobe Bryant was re-signed to a seven-year, $136 million contract days apart last July. Now the Lakers are headed to the draft lottery for the first time in 11 years.
Yet a footnote must be added to this star-crossed season. Bryant refused to show a crack through it all–including the stunning resignation of coach Rudy Tomjanovich, the ankle injury that cost Bryant 14 games or his own teammate calling him the general manager.
That is where any review of what the Lakers did this season must start, with Bryant sitting in front of his locker night after night, admitting frustration but trying to stay positive as the losses piled up.
With the Lakers (33-38) facing an uphill climb just to finish this season with a winning record, the verdict is in on Bryant’s first professional season spent without O’Neal.
“I don’t think publicly he would say that it has [affected him], but I think it has,” Lakers assistant Brian Shaw said.
“All the stuff that’s been going on in terms of Shaq and Phil [Jackson] and the pressure of trying to lead his team to the playoffs.
“The fact that we haven’t achieved that or accomplished that, the type of person that he is, I’m sure he probably takes it all on himself. It’s not all on him. But I’m sure it’s taken a toll. He’s human but he’s probably as strong an individual as I’ve ever seen.”
The closest Bryant, who ranks second in the NBA in scoring at 28.2 points per game, has come to admitting that this season has shaken him came in Denver last week, when he was asked if he ever gets down about the state of the Lakers.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Bryant said. “But you have to bounce back. When your back’s against the wall, you can’t just ball up and cry. You’ve got to come out swinging.”
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After winning three titles and reaching the Finals four times in five years, the Lakers decided to trade O’Neal to Miami for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant. None of the three had ever been All-Stars.
The transformation on both sides has been remarkable. The Heat has the Eastern Conference’s best record with O’Neal putting up MVP numbers, and the Lakers are destined to miss the playoffs for only the second time since 1976.
Where the Lakers go next is uncertain. The first step is finding a coach, with Jackson possibly returning to his old job.
With Grant due another $30 million, the Lakers will have to wait until 2007 to find salary-cap space–but that is before taking into account the extension Butler is eligible for.
They also will have a lottery pick to use, only the second in franchise history, plus an added second-round pick from the expansion Charlotte Bobcats as part of the Kareem Rush trade.
The only players not under contract for next season are Luke Walton, Tierre Brown and Tony Bobbitt. Vlade Divac can be bought out but said he would like to return. The question then is whether the Lakers believe the current team deserves a second chance.
At the end of a trying season, though, Divac could laugh after Tuesday’s game when he was asked what should happen to the Lakers this summer. He stood next to Bryant’s locker and waved a hand in front of it.
“I know one thing,” Divac said. “This guy right here is safe. He’s the only one. Everybody else, that’s the business.”