This week's podcast reuniting former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal has inevitably led to speculation about what might have happened had O'Neal not requested a trade because of his feud with Bryant. Might the Lakers have won the seven championships O'Neal told Bryant he wished they'd won together?

I don't think such continued success was realistic for Bryant and O'Neal with the Lakers. Going one step further, I think the numbers suggest that trading O'Neal when they did was actually the best thing the Lakers could have done in terms of their long-term success.