In the late 1990s, the Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most talented teams in the NBA. With Shaquille O’Neal in his physical prime, potent guards Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones and a budding teenager named Kobe Bryant, they seemed to be on the edge of greatness.
But they were swept out of the playoffs in 1998 and 1999, and it was clear they lacked something. So in June 1999, they hired Phil Jackson to be their head coach, hoping his mystical flower power and experience coaching the dynastic Chicago Bulls of the 1990s would be the missing ingredients.
