Decade Summary: Jordan retired in 1999, but came back (again) from 2001-2003 with the Washington Wizards, though they were never very good. Kobe Bryant with the Lakers and Tim Duncan with the Spurs were the big deals of this decade, as they won five titles apiece: Kobe "three-peated" with Shaquille O'Neal from 2000-2002 as well as two more in 2009 and 2010, and Duncan's were just all over the place, scattered across random years from 1999 to 2014. David Robinson was around for two of these titles, but he was very old and retired after the one in 2005. The main Spurs trio is really Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, as the latter two have won four of the five titles. After winning three with Kobe, Shaq took to Miami to win another title, this time  with Dwyane Wade in 2006. The Detroit Pistons were once again a dominant team, this time in the early 2000s, though they only have a single title in 2003 (besides the ones in 1989 and 1990, of course), to show for it. Paul Pierce was the star for the Celtics in this decade, but was unable to win a title until Boston acquired Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2007, who teamed up with Ray Allen and others for a title in 2008 as well as being very competitive for the next few years, though 2008 remains Boston's sole title since Larry Bird. Other superstars of this decade include Allen Iverson for the Philadelphia 76ers and Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash for the Dallas Mavericks, though Nash later played with Amare Stoudemire on a relatively unsuccessful Phoenix Suns team. None of the first three players mentioned won a ring in the 2000s (Nowitzki finally did in 2011, however), but all three won one MVP, while Nash actually picked up two of these prestigious awards. LeBron James, drafted in 2003 to the Cleveland, was perhaps the best player towards the end of this decade, though he didn't win a ring until the 2010s, an era he has absolutely dominated so far.