In an appearance on 'The Old Man & The Three,' Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal looked back on his iconic run with Kobe Bryant. Contrary to popular belief, Shaq and Kobe weren't always at each other's throats and O'Neal says the mutual respect between them is what helped sustain their partnership for as long as it lasted.
"It was one word that kept us together, it's respect. We used to go at it, like 'motherf*cker I'm shooting, no you're shooting!' But the respect is there. And I tell people all the time, if you think we didn't get along go back and watch the first championship after we beat Indiana. It's a thousand motherf*ckers on the floor but who's the first person he runs to? The respect is going to be there and as long as you have it you can go anywhere with a conversation."
Shaquille O'Neal joined the Lakers back in 1996, which was also the year of Kobe's NBA debut. While it would take some time before the duo reached the heights of their potential, they made history together with three straight NBA championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
The split between Kobe and Shaq eventually developed beyond the point of no return but O'Neal blames the Lakers more than he does Kobe for his departure.
In the eyes of Shaquille O'Neal, two people with mutual respect can say almost anything to each other. Unlike two strangers who meet for the first time, Shaq treats his teammates as his friends and family and he doesn't feel the need to filter his words around those he's comfortable with.
Obviously, this approach to life saw Shaq rubbing shoulders with Kobe Bryant (and many others) quite often during his career but their fights were never from a place of hatred -- they were just pushing each other to be their best.
What Happened To Shaq And Kobe?
Widely regarded as the most dominant duo in NBA history, Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal ran the league for a number of years but it's fair to say they left some championships on the table given how abruptly it ended.
After completing the three-peat in 2002, the Lakers ran into Tim Duncan and the Spurs, who finally ended their run with a 4-2 series win in the West semi-finals. While the Lakers would again return to the Finals in 2004 (Kobe and Shaq's final run together), they went out in ugly fashion after losing in the Finals to a Pistons team they were heavily favored against.
When O'Neal was traded later that summer, everyone assumed it was due to his broken relationship with Kobe, and their "rivalry" became a common theme whenever they matched up against each other and it continued long after they retired.
It wasn't until a few years ago that O'Neal finally set the record straight. According to Shaq, it wasn't Kobe that forced him out -- it was the Lakers. For whatever reason, they tried to get O'Neal to take less money that summer and he saw it as nothing short of an insult after delivering three championships to the franchise.
So if anyone is to blame for the split of Kobe and Shaq, it's the Lakers' front office who decided that keeping them together wasn't worth the price of giving O'Neal the max. Considering he won a championship with the Heat a few years later, we can safely say that the Lakers dropped the ball on that one.
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