Fansided

5 great teams that were ruined by the Kobe-Shaq Lakers

By Rich Kraetsch

Photo by LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP via Getty Images /
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Seattle SuperSonics Vin Baker (L) and Gary Payton (R) battle Los Angeles Lakers’ Robert Horry (bottom L) and Shaquille O’Neal (2nd R) during the fourth quarter of their Western Conference semi-finals playoff game 06 May in Seattle. Los Angeles beat Seattle 92-68 to the tie best-of-seven series 1-1. AFP PHOTO Dan LEVINE (Photo by DAN LEVINE / AFP) (Photo credit should read DAN LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images)
Seattle SuperSonics Vin Baker (L) and Gary Payton (R) battle Los Angeles Lakers’ Robert Horry (bottom L) and Shaquille O’Neal (2nd R) during the fourth quarter of their Western Conference semi-finals playoff game 06 May in Seattle. Los Angeles beat Seattle 92-68 to the tie best-of-seven series 1-1. AFP PHOTO Dan LEVINE (Photo by DAN LEVINE / AFP) (Photo credit should read DAN LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images) /

3. Seattle Supersonics

Look, I’m not going to blame the Lakers for the Supersonics leaving Seattle but they really didn’t help. After establishing themselves as one of the NBA’s best teams throughout the 1990s, Seattle entered the end of the decade looking at sweeping changes. Shawn Kemp, who guided Seattle to glory, was gone. While Gary Payton was still a force, Seattle was struggling to maintain its identity going into the new millennium.

Karl, Payton, Vin Baker as well as Sonics mainstays Detlef Schrempf and Hersey Hawkins were anxious to get Seattle back to their glory days. Despite some internal struggles, Seattle still supported their Sonics to the tune of the 13th-best attendance in the NBA.

Seattle easily beat Minnesota in the first-round and set themselves up for a second-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. While Los Angeles was beginning to build their dynasty, the pieces weren’t quite there just yet. Seattle had beat the Lakers three out of four times in the regular season and seemed more than ready to dispatch them in the playoffs and make their way to the Western Conference Finals.

Well, not exactly.

Seattle lost in five games. O’Neal averaged over 30 points per game while Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Bryant all averaged double-figures. Despite their best efforts, Seattle was going home and big changes were on the horizon.

George Karl was out. The longtime coach who had led Seattle to the NBA Finals in 1996 was gone. Former Phoenix Suns head coach Paul Westhead was in. This, for all intents and purposes, was the final breath of the Sonics dynasty of the 1990s and unfortunately, the Sonics in Seattle.

The Supersonics would miss the playoffs in the lockout-shortened year, their first playoff-less year since 1990.

Seattle would make the playoffs again in 2000 but the bloom was off the rose. Seattle plummeted to 22nd in attendance. Payton would never again make it out of the first round and he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2003. Ray Allen gave Seattle a glimmer of hope in 2005 helping the Sonics reach the 2005 Western Conference semifinals, but the glory was fleeting.

The Sonics would depart for Oklahoma City in 2008 and leave a legacy of professional basketball in Seattle behind.

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