Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were a terrific tandem on the court, but things weren’t as harmonious when they weren’t sharing touches. Their different personalities made things hard for these two players, who started off as good teammates and ended up beefing a couple of years later, which ultimately forced the Lakers to trade Shaquille O’Neal in 2004.
A lot was said about that situation and many people had something to say about it, including the main characters. Even though they couldn’t see eye to eye, they knew that playing together was fun and they could do a lot of damage to the rest of the league.
Kobe was once asked if he would have tried to make things work with Shaq if he was the Lakers’ general manager back then. The Black Mamba admitted he would have, but also explained that Shaq had his reasons to decide to leave the Lakers and look for a new home.
“I would have [tried to work things out]. I think everybody would have probably said the same thing, but I don’t know with the intricacies… Shaq had to do what’s best for him and his family. He said so after the last game we played, this is a business and he’s gonna have to make the best decision for him and his family, and that’s what he did.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA8WoBmEleo
O’Neal was traded to South Beach, where he joined the Miami Heat. He would win the NBA championship two seasons after he arrived in Florida, surpassing Kobe’s tallie of titles until the latter took revenge and overtook Shaq in 2010.
What started as a good relationship slowly went wrong, with the deadly duo starring in public and private fights, playing mind games to play with one another, and more condiments that made this feud one of the most memorable in NBA history. Kobe wanted to win, and so did Shaq, but sometimes, that desire wasn’t enough to ignore the rest of the bad things.
We’ll never know how many more titles they could have won in L.A., but we were glad when they make amends and started a good friendship.
