SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 3) - Jeff Pearlman - Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

As we entered a new millennium, the LA Lakers were in search of the sequel to Showtime.  GM Jerry West was looking for answers after the curtain had dropped on Magic, Kareem and Worthy.

He found them in Shaq, a larger than life centre and a petulant, singularly focused, rising superstar named Kobe. In assembling this new era of dominance under head coach Phil Jackson, The Lake Show was flying high...but with a whole lot of drama unfolding behind the scenes. 

Jeff Pearlman (current host of Two Writers Slinging Yang Podcast, former sr. writer at SI and ESPN columnist) is well versed with such themes. This, his ninth book, follows along the arc of trouble in paradise established in earlier works such as Boys Will Be Boys about the wild 1990s Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl runs, and Love Me, Hate Me, which details the inner machinations of "anti-hero" Barry Bonds. 

Welcome to our conversation.