Phoenix Suns Archive

Suns Trade: Shaquille O’Neal Cavaliers Trade: Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, Second Round Pick 2010, $500k

Ahh, the good old days. Kobe to Shaq, Shaq to Kobe…I miss those days. I wasn’t quite into basketball when Shaq was in Orlando, but boy was I in love with basketball by the time he was in L.A. And man, what a time to love basketball, three titles in a row?

Then what do we do? We go and get Karl Malone and Gary Payton, sending Derek Fisher and Robert Horry to the bench. Two of the greatest role players of their era, and make them play a small role, so we can have four hall of famers on the court at the same time.

Hey, at the time? It sounded great, although I was skeptical even then. I didn’t know as much about conflicting personalities then as I do now, but the thought crossed my mind, with the help of ESPN, that having four guys on the same team that were all used to being the go-to-guy most likely wasn’t going to end well.

I mean, it was hard enough to cut the ball in half every game for Kobe and Shaq already. Now throw in The Glove and The Mailman. Everyone assured fans that Malone and Payton just wanted a championship, and that they’d do whatever it took to get one. Hah. That didn’t work.

Throw in Kobe’s rape trial, and we single handedly ruined The Dynasty. That team(minus Karl and Gary) could have won at least two more championships, even possibly in a row. So what ended up happening? We gave the team to Kobe, gave Shaq away, and started over again.

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