“Charles Barkley and I argue all the time, but respect each other”: Shaquille O’Neal draws parallels between his relationship with Kobe Bryant and Chuck

Shaquille O’Neal opened up about his relationship with former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant on his Hall of Fame induction night.

Shaquille O’Neal has been the Robin to Kobe Bryant’s Batman especially when the Lakers won the Championship consecutive three times. They did the three-peat starting from 2000 through 2002 and became one of the deadliest duos in the history of the NBA.

However it is not like they were best of friends, they both were highly opinionated and hence there were a lot of arguments. The constant arguments did start to create a rift between the two players. However, Shaq and Kobe got back to each other and resolved things before the Mamba’s untimely demise last year.

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“Me and Charles Barkley go at it all the time, same with Kobe Bryant”: Shaquille O’Neal

Even in their back and forth relationship, Shaq always had respect for Kobe. The Big Diesel opened up about his relationship with Kobe Bryant during the Hall of Fame induction night.

He, along with Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson, were handed a segment to speak on their relationship at the TNT Inside the NBA. There Shaq compared his relationship with Kobe just like one he now shares with Chuck:

“When we do talk about issues, you have three intelligent people and Charles that gives their point of view. The thing that we love about each other is that we can have a different opinion and respect each other.”

“Me and Charles go at it all the time, like I don’t have an older brother, I’m the oldest, but if I did have an older brother, I would want him to be Charles Barkley.”

“The same thing with me and Kobe, we argued all the time, but we respected each other. That’s why we were able to win three out of four championships. It’s all about respect.”

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These are the stories about the Black Mamba which makes him the legend that he is today. Alongwith Kobe Bryant, legends like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett were also honoured with Hall of Fame induction especially due to their incredible achievements in the NBA.