The 2000s Lakers were the ultimate example of a franchise that couldn’t control its players. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, drunk on their success, were untamable. They were also each other’s biggest enemies.
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When you have two stars of that caliber, ready to fight at the drop of a hat, as a franchise, you really need to evaluate your decisions. But the Lakers were too invested in their championships. Both Kobe and Shaq were key pieces in their campaigns so disciplining or trading either one of them seemed impossible.
But by 2003, after they had completed the three-peat, things took the nastiest turn. Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault and he felt betrayed by the lack of support from O’Neal. So, during an interview with Jim Gray, Bryant lashed out at O’Neal for a variety of reasons.
When the 7ft 1″ Diesel found out about the interview, he decided to thrash Bryant. Things escalated to the point where a retired Lakers player had to become the mediator and defend Kobe from Shaq’s wrath.
Brian Shaw saved Kobe Bryant from Shaquille O’Neal
There is no denying Kobe Bryant was a badass. He was the only one on the Lakers who actually tried to fight the humongous O’Neal. Even players who were as tall as Shaq were afraid of the Big Aristotle. But not Kobe Bryant.
But in all fairness, a fight is not won by the presence or lack of fear. If O’Neal and Kobe had gotten into a serious brawl, the results would have been really troubling for Bryant. The entire Lakers team knew this. They knew what kind of a beast Shaquille O’Neal was. So as soon as the interview came out, there were multiple plans in motion to protect Kobe from his teammate.
In his book Shaq Uncut, O’Neal narrated the entire instance in detail. Apparently, if not for Brian Shaw there could clearly have been a brutal fight between the two.
Shaq: “I’m sitting there watching this interview and I’m gonna explode. Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we’d stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, “I’m going to kill him.” That night Brian Shaw gets a call from rookie Devean George. BShaw had retired and was a scout for the Lakers in Northern California, but Devean told him, “They’re going to want you down here. The shit hit the fan today. Shaq (O’Neal) is going to destroy Kobe (Bryant).”
Brian sat down with O’Neal and Bryant and carefully sorted the entire fiasco. It was fascinating how he commanded the room that day and prevented a major brawl from happening. Though the Lakers would be dismantled a year later, this was awfully necessary for the two to exist.
Shaq and Kobe, fortunately, made up years later
Fortunately for the fans of the duo, the two would end up making up years later. After O’Neal was transferred to Miami and won a championship with Dwyane Wade, Kobe received the keys to the Lakers. The Black Mamba would go on to win two more championships, one more than O’Neal.
The two solved their issues after years of feuding by the end of their careers. Both vocal about each other’s greatness and grateful they had matured over the years. Wonder how hard it would have been on Shaq if he had never made up with Shaq until the tragic crash.
