‘Inside Joke’ Aimed At Magic Johnson Became Fodder to Fuel Shaquille O’Neal’s Beef With Kobe Bryant: “Tragic Instead of Magic”

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s time at the LA Lakers eventually ended with their infamous feud. While the two players shared a sense of respect for each other, the media was often guilty of exaggerating their differences. O’Neal claimed in his book, Shaq Uncut, that there were numerous examples of times when the media made more of their feud than it really was. As a reference, the LA Lakers legend talked about how some of the media accused him of imitating Bryant during the 2000 All-Star game.

In truth, both the players were in on a joke related to Magic Johnson. Shaq said that the Lakers’ players would call each other “Tragic Bronson” each time they ended up making an obvious mistake. With Kobe Bryant and O’Neal enjoying multiple successful years together, their feud was always a hot topic for the media to speculate about.

Shaquille O’Neal thought the media fuelled his beef with Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant had once claimed that Shaq had enough talent to be the best player of all time. However, while O’Neal was one of the most dominant, he did not have the same determination and drive that Kobe showed.

With both the players two of the biggest in the NBA, the media would speculate on each and every incident, no matter how mundane. According to Shaq Uncut, a part of the media was once responsible for exaggerating a joke that the two players shared with the rest of the team.

The Lakers would call each other “Tragic Bronson” each time they made an obvious error during practice. That was because the media had apparently called the Lakers legend “Tragic” after losing a series against the Celtics:

“Here’s what I didn’t like: when the media tried to climb inside my head and Kobe’s head and make something out of nothing. Perfect example: at the 2000 All-Star Game I was warming up and goofing around, and I mimicked one of his next-generation dribbles and threw the ball into the stands. Some guys wrote I was taking a shot at Kobe, that I was dissing him over his turnovers. Wrong. Kobe was in on it. We had this joke that every time anyone on the team committed some kind of crazy turnover, we used to call him Tragic Bronson. It was a takeoff on Magic Johnson. In 1984, when he coughed up the series to Boston with some bad plays, they started calling him Tragic instead of Magic.

We were picking up on that and having a little fun with it. So when Kobe would drill Brian Shaw in the chest with one of his no-look passes we’d call him Tragic Bronson. Some days, when I tried to take it coast-to-coast and lost it out of bounds, I was called Tragic Bronson. It was becoming obvious the whole Shaq-Kobe deal was the biggest story in town. We were both smart enough to put that aside once we got inside the gym.”

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s beef was a media goldmine

O’Neal and Bryant were two different types of individuals and players. Both had obvious talent, winning 3 NBA championships together.

While there were several instances of altercations having broken out, the two had obvious respect for each other. As O’Neal revealed, the two would put their beef aside when they were inside the gym.

This meant that while there were obvious differences between the two, both players simply wanted to win. While there might have been off-court issues, the two fully recognized the talent and usefulness of having the other on their team.