Shaqir O’Neal, who’s now 19 and in his sophomore year of college, wasn’t even born when Shaquille O’Neal donned a Kobe Bryant jersey for pre-game warmups.
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The friendship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal was quite something to think about. They had quite a few falling-outs over the years, but they resolved them amicably.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen had 6 titles together, while Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won 5. However, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant are the greatest superstar pairing in NBA history according to most fans.
These were 2 real alphas who could individually take over any game on both ends of the floor. Unlike Pippen and Magic, who weren’t natural scorers, both Shaq and Kobe were scoring title champions in their prime.
Their 3-year run of winning successive championships is the last time any team has threepeated in the NBA. Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry came close, but KD’s Achilles tear in 2019 put paid to those hopes.
Shaq is now 51 years old today, and 12 years into his post-playing career as an analyst on TNT. Despite being retired for so long, Shaq is still a prominent public figure. Not least because of his propensity to do commercials for any and every brand that’d have him!
Shaqir O’Neal posts a picture of Shaquille O’Neal donning a Kobe jersey during warmups
Shaqir O’Neal, the youngest son of Shaq, is currently a student-athlete at Texas Southern University. The 19-year-old hopes to establish a career in basketball professionally, like his famous father.
Shaqir posted a picture of Shaquille O’Neal donning a Kobe Bryant no. 8 jersey during warmups for a 2001-02 NBA regular season game yesterday. This was a day ahead of Shaq’s 51st birthday and the 21st anniversary of him wearing the jersey.
Why did Shaq wear the Kobe jersey?
The Indiana Pacers faced the LA Lakers on March 2, 2002 in a rematch of the 2000 NBA Finals. Los Angeles came away 96-84 victors, but Reggie Miller had a bone to pick with Kobe Bryant.
Kobe shot the ball in the final seconds of the game in order to avoid a shot-clock violation. Miller felt it was unsportsmanlike of Kobe to take that shot, believing he should’ve taken the team turnover instead.
He tried to let Kobe know as much, walking up to #8 at halfcourt, but Bryant was in no mood to listen. The two soon came to blows as their teams tried their best to separate them.
Bryant ended up serving a 2-match suspension that cost him $250,000 in salaries. It was during the second game of his suspension that O’Neal decided he’d pay homage to his absentee teammate by wearing his jersey for warmups.
One would be surprised to learn that a superhuman being like Shaq fit into Kobe’s jersey. However, despite their 7-inch difference in heights and 100-lb difference in weight, O’Neal seemed to rock that jersey well enough.
