Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant are arguably one of the greatest duos in NBA history. While Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen won more, there has never been a duo as complementary as Shaq and Kobe. Kobe was a dynamic scoring guard and O’Neal was a beast in the paint. Teams need 2 guys to stop each player, which made many role players like Robert Horry and Derek Fisher NBA legends for their contributions alongside Shaq and Kobe.
Due to the success that the pair had and their individual talents, their relationship turned sour and Shaq was ultimately traded from LA to Miami. This cast a dark cloud over their relationship for years until they made up when Kobe was retiring. Even though they had made up, they hadn’t rekindled and become good friends again, something Shaq revealed he regretted.
“Before Kobe passed away and my sister passed away, I was always the ‘ill call her tomorrow’ (guy). Let me go buy this business but I’ll call you tomorrow, I’ll call you tomorrow, I’ll call you tomorrow and then you wake up and they’re not here. So that if I could just see him last time and we just argue, fight, and play, I would love to have that. To all the people out there, if you have discrepancies with somebody, but you still love and care about them, reach out. You ain’t gotta see them, you ain’t gotta hug them and kiss them, just send them a text.”
Shaq and Kobe were a generational duo. Bryant’s passing was mourned around the world but especially so by the O’Neal family. Not only did Shaq see someone he looked at as a younger brother be taken from everyone way too early, but his son also lost a mentor and a guiding figure,
The Success That Shaq And Kobe Enjoyed Together
Even if they had an acrimonious split, what they achieved in their years together is set in concrete. The Lakers with these two at the head were an unstoppable machine that pumped out championship rings regularly. They won 3 titles consecutively from 2000 to 2002, the last team in NBA history to successfully complete a 3-peat.
Shaq was arguably the best player in the league through these 3 seasons, and Kobe was proving to everyone that he was just as capable of sitting on the throne alongside Shaq. As they both were alpha leaders, they tended to clash a lot. After the grind of 3 title-winning campaigns, the Lakers fell in the 2003 Western Conference Playoffs, before seeing their years of success end in 2004 after a shock Finals defeat to the Detroit Pistons.
The split between Shaq and Kobe that followed the Pistons’ loss was not pleasant. It worked out for Shaq as he’d win another title in Miami in 2006, while Kobe would take longer to get back to the Finals, making 3 consecutive Finals from 2008 to 2010, winning titles in the last 2 years.
The pair might not have been best friends, but endured so much together that they were bonded forever in glory. Considering the man Kobe was becoming, Shaq rightfully feels upset that he couldn’t keep his relationship with him strong enough.
