It is no easy task to win back-to-back titles in any professional sport. Once a team like the Los Angeles Lakers is crowned NBA champion, next season the franchise has a target on its back with every team in the league gunning for defending champs.
Derek Fisher, who won five NBA titles during his stint in Los Angeles, spoke with us about the difficulty of winning back-to-back titles in this league when interviewed for our 10th-anniversary piece on the Lakers' last repeat.
Few players have the experience he's had being a part of multiple teams that were able to pull off this feat. Fisher mentions current Lakers superstar LeBron James and Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors when describing how hard it can be to win titles in consecutive years.
“It's hard, man. It's mentally and physically exhausting,” Fisher said of pulling off the repeat in the NBA. “When you think about what LeBron has been able to do in terms of teams that he has been on and just having a chance to win titles in consecutive years and then obviously when you think about what the Warriors have accomplished over the last five seasons.
“I don't care who is on your team; it's just not an easy feat. The amount of work that goes into it. The physical toll that it takes on your body. The mental and emotional drain that you experience on a daily and weekly basis. It's why it doesn't happen often.”
During his first stint with the Lakers, Fisher played a significant role in the storied franchise winning three straight titles with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant leading the way. That team had two of the best players in NBA history and was stacked with talent, but a rift between these superstars ultimately resulted in O'Neal being traded and Bryant having to go through a rebuild which took nearly have a decade to get back to contender status.
Fisher touches on the fact that egos can get it in the way of championship aspirations and how sacrifice is needed to put it all together, especially when it comes to winning back-to-back titles. Every player on the squad goes through a transition in which things can get complicated when it comes to contracts and minutes on the floor.
“It's hard to balance the egos and the sacrifice that if you're fortunate enough for it to come together that one year to win the championship to then be able to have everybody make those sacrifices again, that's a hard thing to do because that second time around, everybody wants more,” Fisher told ClutchPoints. “More minutes. More shots. More opportunity. Guys that are free agents to be that are looking to maybe play for a contract. Maybe a guy that signed as a free agent that got big money. Not because he's intentionally taking a step back, but it's just a little different than he was the year before when he was working to get that money.
“So when you factor all those things in, it makes it really hard to do. Many people like to hate successful teams year in and year out. I have a tendency to enjoy watching teams try to accomplish those things.”
Fortunately for Fisher, he was able to experience the right kind of balance and chemistry on a championship team on multiple occasions while playing for the Lakers. He may have played for a few different franchises before calling it a career in the NBA, but he endured the challenges of playing in Los Angeles and has five rings to show for it.
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