Gary Payton: Lakers Planned To ‘Bring The Band Back’ Had They Won 2004 NBA Finals

Ron Gutterman
3 Min Read
Allen Einstein/NBAE

The 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers saw one of the greatest collections of talent on a single team in NBA history. With a roster led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, the Lakers added Gary Payton and Karl Malone, while retaining role players Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Horace Grant.

Despite Payton and Malone being over 35 years of age, the two were still great contributors on both ends of the court. The team would finish 56-26, good enough for the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed.

The Lakers wound up back in the NBA Finals where they took on the Detroit Pistons. Although they were the favorites, they ended up losing in five games, and O’Neal would get traded that summer.

However, Payton now says that had the Lakers won the 2004 NBA Finals, the plan was to keep the team together, and that the only question mark was Bryant’s free agency, according to Arash Markazi of The L.A. Times:

It’s always been believed that if O’Neal and Bryant could’ve worked through their differences, the Lakers would have won more than three championships. The 2004 NBA Finals served as the benchmark of the end of that dynasty, as the Lakers would re-sign Bryant to a long term deal and trade O’Neal to the Miami Heat.

Payton went on to win a championship with the Heat before retiring in 2007, and Malone retired in the summer of 2004. What could’ve been one of the greatest rosters ever assembled was disbanded after one year.

Obviously, there are tons of what-ifs that come with the 2003-04 Lakers. But that could be said of O’Neal and Bryant’s entire time together. Even though they won three titles and went to four Finals, there’s still a lingering sense of what could have been.

Ron Gutterman is a Washington State University alum from Anaheim, California, and is currently a Staff Writer for LakersNation.com, RamsNewsWire.com, and RaidersNewsWire.com. He is also the lead editor for AngelsNation.com. With Lakers Nation, Rams News Wire, Raiders News Wire, and Angels Nation, Ron assists in news, game coverage, analysis, and hot takes via his Twitter account, @rongutterman24. Without a doubt, Ron's favorite Laker, and favorite athlete of all time, is Kobe Bryant. Ron began watching basketball when he was 6 years old, in 2005, when Bryant was dragging the likes of Smush Parker and Ronny Turiaf to playoff spots. Ron's all time favorite Lakers moment was Bryant's final game when he dropped 60 points. While the Lakers beating the Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, as Metta World Peace hit the game clinching three, will always be a top option, Bryant's final night takes the cake. Contact: ron@mediumlargela.com
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