Lakers News: How Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol's Titles Inspired Next Major Big Three

Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant did a lot of things during his long career. He is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and his peers respected him for it.

But everyone in the league also wanted to beat him. It was a motivating factor for many of the best players during his playing days, and the success that Bryant saw even led to one of the biggest moments in NBA history, without him even knowing.

The summer after the 2010 NBA Finals, the Miami Heat landed LeBron James and Chris Bosh to pair them with Dwyane Wade. It was a huge moment for the NBA, as it created the big three in Miami. They went on to win two NBA titles, and it was one of the better runs for a team in recent memory.

But according to Wade, it was Bryant that started the players finally getting together. He recently said that right after the Lakers took down the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals, he called James to get things going.

Dwayne Wade talks about how he turned off the TV when Kobe won in 2010 and immediately called LeBron.

"LeBron, so what you gonna do?"
"Kobe winning all these rings, now he got 5.."

Miami's superteam was created because of Kobe. 😂 pic.twitter.com/1QXAkRc5V3
— Brandon (@clickthatfollow) September 25, 2023

Seeing Bryant win his fifth championship was a motivating factor for them to team up, and it ultimately worked out pretty well for them. But it’s fascinating that Bryant was one of the main reasons that the big three ended up being created.

"LeBron, so what you gonna do? Kobe winning all these rings, now he got 5.."

Per Dwyane Wade

Wade had already won one NBA title in his career, but James was still searching for his first. So seeing Bryant and the Lakers go to three straight NBA Finals, winning two of them, probably was tough for him.

James and Bryant were interchangeably the best players in the league, but Bryant had the team success at the time. So, the final ring in his career was bigger than anyone could have known at the time time.

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