Would Kobe be GOAT if he played in the East?

[AirTupac]

7 rings?

[Dragic4Life]

Shaq and Pau there to carry his ass?

[Wade's Rings]

What's the scenario? Does Shaq come? Do Wade and Bron get moved to the West?

[AirTupac]

What's the scenario? Does Shaq come? Do Wade and Bron get moved to the West?

Same teams Kobe has always had, just on the East. Everyone stays as is.

I think playoff Lakers with Gasol would beat prime Heat.

[SouBeachTalents]

He honestly might have more Finals MVP's, '01 becomes a very strong possibility

[Cold soul]

Who knows he might had a better career but maybe not.

[Hey Yo]

What's the scenario? Does Shaq come? Do Wade and Bron get moved to the West?

Let Calipari and the Nets draft him instead of them being told not to.

[Prime_Shaq]

Same teams Kobe has always had, just on the East. Everyone stays as is.

I think playoff Lakers with Gasol would beat prime Heat.

Kobe + Shaq was gonna win no matter what. Its only the egos that limit how much they could win.

[imnew09]

Would put up Jordan stats. 7/7 in finals tho

[SwishSquared]

No, because people would still hold Shaq's FMVPs against him when comparing him to Jordan. I think this is an unrealistic scenario though- "let's put him in a weaker conference in a worse market but he gets to keep his GOAT tier coach and HOF bigs."

If he stayed in Charlotte or was drafted by Calipari's Nets, he'd have been much worse off imo.

Regarding beating prime Heat, I don't think they would. 2011 Lakers were much worse than the two previous iterations. CP3 beat them twice by himself in the first round that year with a sorry supporting cast. Wade, Bosh, & LBJ in their prime would beat them that year. Lakers were really worn out by then.

Edit:
After thinking about the way OP framed it, I think he makes more Finals with Shaq. They maybe win 1-2 more titles, but I'm unsure if he'd snag a FMVP in that stretch. I don't think he has much playoff success in period post-Shaq, pre-Gasol. I think he wins same number of rings with Gasol regardless, unless he gets knocked out by Celtics in conference finals.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Said/asked nobody ever.

[Akrazotile]

I do think it's possible he goes down as GOAT sidekick if he had played his whole career with his Laker teams being in the East.

But in reality we'll never know, since he obviously played in the West and at this point will never get a sixth ring to match Pippen.

[Dragic4Life]

I do think it's possible he goes down as GOAT sidekick if he had played his whole career with his Laker teams being in the East.

But in reality we'll never know, since he obviously played in the West and at this point will never get a sixth ring to match Pippen.

Pippen was never a sidekick. He was 1b to mike's 1a.

[Cold soul]

Pippen was never a sidekick. He was 1b to mike's 1a.

[alec613]

Pippen was never a sidekick. He was 1b to mike's 1a.