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5 Years After Their Matchup, Shaquille O’Neal Claimed Kobe Bryant Would Surpass Michael Jordan: “The Student Must Eventually Kill the Teacher!”

Siddid Dey Purkayastha
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5 Years After Their Matchup, Shaquille O'Neal Claimed Kobe Bryant Would Surpass Michael Jordan: "The Student Must Eventually Kill the Teacher!"

Shaquille O’Neal has always acted as a big brother to all his teammates. Whether on the Lakers, Heat, Suns, or the Celtics, Shaq always had a knack for looking out for younger players and encouraging them to be at their best. Although Kobe Bryant and Shaq would later end up in a feud, they shared a wholesome relationship during their time at the Los Angeles Lakers. O’Neal believed that a young Kobe Bryant had the best potential to surpass the legacy of Michael Jordan. At the age of 38, MJ returned from his retirement to play on Washington Wizards’ roster. Shaq felt that even though it would seem like a tough job for Jordan, he still had the spirit to give his all.

Bryant was clearly beyond excited to play His Airness for the first time in 1996. However, the Big Diesel was confident he would never let that blind him to what he had to do – kill his mentor. And apparently, during MJ’s stint with the Wizards, it was very much a possibility too.

In his book ‘Shaq Talks Back,’ O’Neal compared this situation to his 23-year-old self while being just 29 at that time. He feels he had lost a ‘micro-schism’ of his spark from his younger days, which would have been quite challenging to recover. Eventually, Shaq compared MJ testing waters once again with the younger generation of the NBA and how Kobe Bryant had the potential to surpass his spiritual mentor.

Shaquille O’Neal believed in Kobe Bryant’s potential to surpass Michael Jordan as the greatest player

Shaquille O’Neal, before he feuded with Kobe Bryant, was sure that the Lakers legend would surpass MJ as the greatest player in basketball. And why not? Bryant had everything in him to be compared to the Greatest of All Time. Drafted at the age of 18 to the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe’s undying spirit on the court and relentless work ethic was something that drove the franchise to their three-peat victory. On this same note, Shaq wrote in his book,

“Let me say one more thing about Kobe. He will be the best player in the history of the game. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, there is no stopping him. He is that good.”

O’Neal compared his 29-year-old self to Michael Jordan’s return to play at 38. He noted that MJ would have had difficulty going against the younger generation of players in the league. He justified this with an example of his abilities at 23 versus his current abilities at 29.

Further on, Shaq compared the relationship between Kobe and Jordan to Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. This was one of the greatest examples of passing the mantle of greatness from one to another. A young Rocky Marciano had beaten his idol, Joe Louis at the sport of boxing, justifying what Shaq had to say. Explaining this, Shaq wrote in his book,

“But he’s[Michael Jordan] coming back. He is again stepping on young guys’ territory. I’m not saying he’s going down this time, but it’s just like when Rocky Marciano fought Joe Louis. Joe was the man, but he ran into a hungry young guy in Marciano. Hey, the student must eventually kill the teacher. I don’t know if that will happen with Mike and Kobe, but I do know this.”

Shaq was confident enough in Kobe’s abilities that he had asked his teammates to back him when Jordan’s Washinton Wizards went man-to-man against the Lakers. Although Michael Jordan remains the G.O.A.T, it would be unfair not to denote the late Kobe Bryant’s career as one of, if not the greatest.

Comparing Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan’s career

During their playing careers, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan faced each other eight times. Four of those times came when Jordan was with the Chicago Bulls and the other four during his stint with the Washington Wizards.

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Out of these eight games, the Lakers have won five, with Kobe averaging 22.8 points across all the games. Michael Jordan, on the other hand, averaged 24.5 points during the times he had faced Bryant.

About the author

Siddid Dey Purkayastha

Siddid Dey Purkayastha

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Siddid Dey Purkayastha is an NBA Journalist at SportsRush, covering the sports for two years. He has always been a lover of sports and considers basketball as his favorite. While he has more than 600 articles under his belt, Siddid specializes in CoreSport pieces with on-point game analysis. He is an ardent fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, since Kobe Bryant's 80-point game made him a fan of the franchise. Apart from basketball, Siddid occasionally watches soccer and takes a fancy in following up with the Premier League in his free time.

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