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“Me and Kobe Bryant were like Paul McCartney and John Lennon from the Beatles”: Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal makes an interesting comparison between the two iconic duos

Kunal Das
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Shaquille O’Neal recently expressed in his podcast how he felt like the 3-peat Lakers were extremely similar to the Beatles back in the 1960s.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant are widely regarded as one of the greatest duos in NBA history, and rightly so.

While struggling to make noise in the playoffs during their earlier seasons, the Lakers absolutely smoked everyone on their path to the 3-peat in 2000-02. The big man won 3 straight Finals MVPs, while the Mamba was the established closer of the team, with ice in his veins.

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Their chemistry wasn’t spot on from the onset, however, and they inevitably split in 2004 after losing the title to the Detroit Pistons in a shock upset. Both went to have continued success even after the debacle. Shaq won his 4th title in 2006 with the Heat, while Kobe repeated with the Lakers in 2009-10.

We can only wonder how the duo might have fared if they had stayed together. Shaq had previously discussed how he felt that they might have won 6-7 titles at the very least. But ultimately, it wasn’t meant to happen.

Shaq did one better on his podcast recently by making a fascinating comparison. He remarked how the Shaq-Kobe duo was actually similar to the wildly popular British band Beatles. Surprised? We were too. But his reasons make it a very worthwhile debate.

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Shaq was on “The Big Podcast” and discussed how Kobe and Shaq, despite their differences, were bound to create history together.

Shaq remarked, “Anytime in history when you have two alpha males together in a group, this will happen. There’s going to be conflict, but they are going to be the greatest group ever.”

He added that “Shaq and Kobe, and the Beatles are the only two that compare. There are going to be altercations, but both the groups will remain the most remembered.”

Now some context for the uninitiated. The Beatles also had the “two alpha males” conundrum, and a lot of rumors regarding creative differences between leaders Paul McCartney and John Lennon had emerged. Despite the clash of egos, Beatles remain amongst the most selling artists of all time.

Shaq also expressed remorse over the fact that he and Kobe did not handle the clash better. “We had beef, we should have discussed it, and should have made up.”

Well, we certainly hoped too that the beef was resolved, but we are glad to have witnessed the sheer dominance of the duo anyway.

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