When one looks back and thinks about the best duos in NBA, there are a few names that come to mind. There’s Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and of course, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Kobe and Shaq were together in Los Angeles from 1996 to 2004. During that time, Shaq and Kobe went on to win three championships between 2000-2002, becoming the last teammates in NBA to record a three-peat. They’re often regarded as the ‘best duo to ever do it’ because of their varying skill set, and how well they gelled on the court.
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Not too long ago, Shaq got emotional while thinking about the iconic lob Kobe threw him against the Trailblazers. Going on the same tone, when Shaq saw a latte art today, he couldn’t help but share the same with his 30,800,000 followers on Instagram.
Shaquille O’Neal shares latte art recreating his iconic photograph with Kobe Bryant
Shaq is very active on Instagram, as can be seen by his stories. He posts the most random things on his stories, and more often than not, they’re quite entertaining to watch. The case is no different when it comes to what he posts. Today, he took to his Instagram to share a latte art with his 30,800,000 followers.
He captioned the post, “best cup of coffee to ever do it.”
View this post on Instagram
The caption was a clear reference to him calling his duo with Kobe to be the best to ever do it.
The coffee art is recreating an iconic photograph taken for a GQ magazine interview after their 2001 championship.
This is what they recreated
(via @GQMagazine ) pic.twitter.com/9Ox5fsziQy— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) June 7, 2023
From what we’ve been seeing for the past few years, it’s clear that Shaq misses Kobe a lot. Even though they fought a ton while playing together, he still considered Kobe his younger brother.
Kobe and Shaq’s beef was a marketing gimmick
If there is one thing Shaq understands best, it’s marketing. The 7ft 1″ big man is a wizard when it comes to marketing and finding ways to sell something. According to Big Diesel, his beef with Kobe was also nothing else but a marketing scheme.
Talking on FULL SEND Podcast in 2021, Shaq explained how he marketed the beef to get the max attention towards the Lakers.
“I perpetuated it (the feud) out of the locker room because the one thing I understood was marketing. So, ‘I don’t like him and he don’t like me,’ and everybody talked about us. That’s all I want. It kind of went too far where people kind of believed it. If you believed then you think we win 3 out of 4?”
It would’ve been brilliant if the duo stuck together. We’re pretty sure they would have won more championships if the beef was only a marketing gimmick. Sadly, it wasn’t and we were never able to fully appreciate what the duo could’ve done if they had a few more years together.
