“My hatred for David Robinson and our rivalry… It was all made up”: Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal opens up about his alleged beef with the Spurs’ big

Lakers’ legend Shaquille O’Neal talks about the much talked about beef between him and David Robinson during the Lakers-Spurs days

Shaquille O’Neal is a name that needs no introduction if you follow basketball. The 4x NBA Champion dominated the world of basketball for a good portion of a decade. The 7’1 big played in three different decades and saw quite a few stars in his period. During this time, he also formed quite some rivalries.

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One of the fiercest rivalries Shaq had was against David Robinson and the Spurs. For the longest time, fans were convinced there was some beef between the two big men. It was mainly stirred by the way Shaq played whenever the two sides faced off against each other. Recently Shaquille O’Neal was on Scoop B Radio, where he talked about the same.

Shaquille O’Neal admits the beef with David Robinson was all made up

Shaquille O’Neal was recently on Scoop B Radio with Brandon Robinson. There he discussed his infamous rivalry with Spurs’ big David Robinson. Shaq cleared the air on this much-deabted topic. He said,

“David was just so nice and respectful,” Shaq said of the Spurs star. “He’s just a nice guy. I’m not a bully. You have to piss me off for me to get mad. David was, ‘Hey Shaq how ya doin? How’s your family?’ So nice and – so I had to make something up just to make me mad and then when I came down to San Antonio and the fans start booing me – ‘Oh you’re booing me in my hometown?’

“And then it was like a hatred thing for David and the Spurs. But it was all made up.”

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It was a nice little technique used by Shaq to rile himself up against one of the nicest players of that era. He was also effective in getting the results he wanted, so as long as he got the results he wanted, the ends justify the methods.