Kobe and Shaq could no longer coexist, its as much on Shaq as it is Kobe. Kobe just got to keep the house in the divorce, so it looks worse. He's played with other guys that were all star level guys, and tried to lure others. Lets not pretend like he's A.I. People point to him not begging Dwight to stay, but if a guy didn't want to play with me I'd tell him to kick rocks too.
No. Kobe was tired of Shaq getting the lions share of credit for the 3-peat, so he gave the front office an ultimatum. Him or me.
He's worse than Iverson. Iverson stuck it out on some otherwise mediocre 76er teams for far too long, look at the years after Shaq and before Pau. That's Kobe's career had he not been blessed with great teammates.
A guy shooting for the record books with no regard and a guy "leading" his team to first round exits.