Back in 2005, the feud between former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal was at its peak. Bryant had leveraged the threat of leaving in free agency to get O’Neal traded the Miami Heat, and there was no love lost between the formerly dominant duo.
Perhaps that’s why Bryant said in a recent interview that he would’ve chosen LeBron James (instead of O’Neal) for his All-Star team in 2005 if he was a captain like in the system the league uses now rather than the old “East vs. West” format.
Or maybe Bryant just actually feels like James was better by that point.