The league has seen its fair share of all-time great duos. One of the most celebrated pairs is the Los Angeles Lakers‘ winning tandem of Shaquille O'Neal and the late Kobe Bryant. The Shaq-and-Kobe tandem dominated the early 2000s and won three straight titles for the Purple & Gold from 2000-2002. They were clearly the winningest pair in recent Lakers history.

Now that a new superstar duo in LeBron James and Anthony Davis is slowly taking over LA, Shaq quickly shut down the idea of the reigning NBA champs being the next “Shaq and Kobe” pair, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.

“There will never be the next [Shaq and Kobe],” O'Neal said. “We don't need them to catch up to us,” O'Neal said. “Kobe and myself were not trying to catch Magic [Johnson] and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] … Kobe and I, [our] legacy will never be duplicated. Or imitated.”

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For the three-time Finals MVP, it's pretty simple —NBA duos can be great without necessarily being greater than any other duo who came before them. For Shaq, it's not about outdoing history but rather making and creating one's own. That was definitely what Shaq and Kobe did in their time with the Lakers.

“We don't want to get into the situation where they can be the next us because there will never be a next us,” O'Neal added. “Magic and Kareem can never be us. We could never be Magic and Kareem. And we can never be LeBron and AD.”

After winning their first ring as a duo a few months ago, James and Davis now have a chance to put their names in the pinnacle of legendary duos as they try to defend their 2020 crown. Though they can never repeat what Shaq and Kobe did two decades ago, they definitely have a decent shot of winning multiple titles for the Lakers and ultimately building their own legacy.