Kobe Bryant, who spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers, almost left the team after a public feud with Shaquille O’Neal.
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Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are widely considered to be the greatest starting duo in history. But the two, despite their success on the court, weren’t always on the best terms.
O’Neal and Bryant joined the Lakers in the same year but at very different points in their career. While Shaq was an already established star, Bryant was a rookie.
O’Neal’s dominance with the team was immediate. He was on his way to becoming a superstar and, naturally, the entire team was built around him. But Kobe was just a kid who got to play 15.5 minutes per game.
However, that changed quickly. Bryant’s rise in his third year was a sign of what was coming. In just two seasons, he had not only upped his playing minutes to 37.9 but also pushed his scoring average to 19.9 points per game.
The way Kobe Bryant saw the game and played the game couldn’t have been more different than Shaquille O’Neal.
Diesel had that uncanny physicality that allowed him to face any and every challenger even with little conditioning. Perhaps his natural gifts impacted Shaq’s worth ethic.
In contrast, Kobe Bryant was the hardest worker. He believed in working on his craft day and night. Always the first to practice and the last to leave, Kobe wasn’t too impressed by Shaq’s dedication to the team.
The conflict grew and grew until it exploded and left the gold and purple scarred.
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Kobe Bryant contemplated leaving the Lakers because of Shaquille O’Neal
O’Neal, who is worth $400 million, was quite likely the best player in the world in the early 2000s. Kobe, though a promising youngster, wasn’t even close to Shaq’s brilliance.
But as Kobe grew more and more, he and Shaq began to clash often. Their different mindsets and priorities created a rift that healed almost at the end of the decade.
But things got out of hand by 2003. The two stars had been in a number of altercations. In fact, Shaq had once slapped Kobe in a pickup game in 1998. After the Slap, Kobe pounced on O’Neal. A fight broke out between the two and teammates had to separate them.
Later on, Shaq turned the feud public and Mamba responded in kind.
During an interview with ESPN’s Jim Gray, Bryant revealed Shaq would be the reason he could leave the team.
Bryant: “I won’t make that decision until the end of the season. I told Shaq last year that I was planning on opting out. He knew before anyone. I told him out of respect for what we have been through together. I thought he should be the first to know. The fact that he acts like this is such a big shock is a mystery to me. If leaving the Lakers at the end of the season is what I decide, a major reason for that will be Shaq’s childlike selfishness and jealousy.”
Luckily, Bryant chose not to leave the next season. He continued with the team and won two more championships for them.
Do you think Shaquille O’Neal was at fault for alienating Bryant?
