KOBE 97 SHAQ 92
FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WERENT ALIVE DURING THREEPEAT ERA, KOBE WAS ALREADY WIDELY CONSIDERED THE BEST PLAYER ON THE LAKERS STARTING IN 2001
SHAQ HAD SENIORITY BUT KOBE WAS ALREADY BY FAR THE BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE
How old were you in 2001 you talking like this?
For the people who haven't had a shrine to Kobe in their room since 2006 (which is blasphemous according to your own faith, I should note), Shaq finished 3rd in MVP voting in 2001 with 578 points including 11 first-place votes. Kobe finished a distant 9th in MVP voting with 11 points, none of them 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place votes. And Shaq won Finals MVP in an easy unanimous vote, he was putting up 33-16-5 and 3 blocks/game against the DPOY while Kobe was getting outscored by Iverson by 10+.
Also, Shaq finished a close 3rd in MVP voting in 2002 with 696 points including 15 first-place votes. Kobe was a distant 5th in MVP voting with 98 points. And Shaq was again the unanimous Finals MVP as well.
2003 and 2004 (
after the three-peat) were the first seasons where people even started to question that Shaq was #1 and Kobe was more than #2 or at most 1b. And even then, when it came to the biggest series it was clear Shaq was gonna take them further than Kobe did. But Kobe really wanted to be #1 and so the Lakers' prospects suffered accordingly.