“F**k you Shaq, Lakers aren’t your team!”: How Shaquille O’Neal slapped Kobe Bryant during a feisty pick-up game in 1998

Shaquille O’Neal slapped Kobe Bryant during a pick-up game in 1998 after the two verbally and physically assaulted each other on the court. 

A feud like the one we all bore witness to during the early 2000s between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal will perhaps never happen again in the NBA; at least, not to the extent to which the two Lakers legends took it to. Even before the millennium turned, Kobe and Shaq were at each other’s throats, looking to be the purple and gold’s number one option. 

Everything from locker room disputes to verbally challenging one another through interviews and the media, Kobe Bryant and Shaq did it all during their heyday. Despite this tumultuous relationship, as everybody knows, they won three straight championships alongside one another. 

Shaq did take to a podcast recently to lay the Kobe-Shaq beef rumors to rest as he shockingly claimed that they played up their feud to bring more attention towards themselves as he’s a self-proclaimed ‘businessman’.

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However, there is absolutely no denying that Bryant and O’Neal weren’t exactly the best of friends as there is too much evidence and too many instances that point towards them not liking one another. 

Shaq and Kobe Bryant had an intense back-and-forth in 1998. 

Before mainstream media could get a hold of the Kobe-Shaq beef narrative, the seeds were already planted as the two blew against one another during a pick-up game in 1998. Due to the lockout season, the Los Angeles Lakers hosted a pick-up between their players, with Kobe Bryant leading one team, and Shaq leading another. 

As expected, their competitive vigor got the best of them, leading to Kobe yelling things like, “F**k you, this isn’t your team,” while O’Neal yelled out, “One more comment like that and I’ll slap the s**t out of you,” and “I’ll have your a** traded.”

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The game itself comprised of an extreme level of physicality, with the 6’6 guard trying his best to contain the eventual 3x Finals MVP. The game took a turn for the worse when it converted from a war of words to a an actually fist fight between the two. 

Teammates had to separate Kobe Bryant from Shaquille O’Neal as the latter actually kept his word and landed a slap on the former. Kobe tried to retaliate but was held back by teammates. Corie Blunt remarked that the ‘noise was loud,’ from the slap that ensued following the pick-up game.