“Wasn’t About to Punk Steve Nash”: After His Feud With Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal Claimed Age Changed His Strategy with the Phoenix Suns

During the early years of his NBA career, Shaquille O’Neal had quite a prickly reputation. To be precise, there were times when he wasn’t exactly on the best of terms with his teammates. Most notably, his relationship with Kobe Bryant deteriorated into in-fighting toward the end of his time with the Lakers. But, things changed as he grew older, and by the time he joined the Phoenix Suns, Shaq had no interest in going back and forth with Steve Nash.

There can be no denying that the end of the Shaq and Kobe era was shocking but not that surprising. Come 2004, the two were pretty much at each other’s throats. And, faced with a dilemma, the Lakers decided to go with the younger player with higher potential, Kobe Bean Bryant.

Safe to say, Big Diesel was chuffed by the decision. But, he learned and matured thanks to the experience. In the following years, he mellowed down considerably. And, when Phoenix came calling he was completely burned out, to the point where he fully submitted to Captain Canada.

Shaquille O’Neal had no intention of fighting with Steve Nash on the Phoenix Suns

In 2008, the Phoenix Suns made the decision to reinforce their center position. So, they made a trade for legendary big man Shaquille O’Neal. A great move on paper, at least from a basketball perspective.

After all, Dwyane Wade aside, Shaq didn’t exactly have the best reputation with superstar guards in his career. The man left Penny Hardaway in the lurch when he left Orlando, and couldn’t stop fighting with Kobe Bryant in LA. So, when he moved to Arizona to pair up with Steve Nash there were concerns.

However, as he explains in his book Shaq Uncut, by the time he got to the “Valley of the Sun”, he was done provoking his teammates. To be exact, he pretty much handed Nash the keys to the kingdom. His words fell somewhere along the lines of “Just tell me what to do”.

Shaq: “I went to Phoenix in peace, arms up in surrender. I went from punking Penny to fighting with Kobe all the time to chilling out with D-Wade and banging heads with Pat Riley, I was burned out. I didn’t want to fight with anybody. My motor was shot. So I wasn’t about to punk Steve Nash. It was ‘Okay Steve, do whatever you want, let me know what you need from me.'”

On this day in 2008, Shaquille O’Neal was traded from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns for Marcus Banks and Shawn Marion. pic.twitter.com/vCiGGbhZNj

— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) February 6, 2022

Unfortunately, the trade didn’t pan out as fans had hoped. After two years, Shaq was moving on to his next team, and by 2011, he had decided to hang up his sneakers and call it quits.

Shaq had a very average time with the Phoenix Suns

The Shaquille O’Neal trade was supposed to take the Suns to the next level. After all, the 7’1 center was pairing up, not just with Steve Nash, but also with Amar’e Stoudemire. Together, fans hoped that this team which was already a contender before Shaq’s arrival would be propelled to an NBA Championship.

However, with his previous injury vows, his time in Phoenix was average at best. His 16-point, nine-rebound, a block per game stat line shows just that.

At the end of the day, things may have not gone as planned with the Suns. Nevertheless, his time there is still something he looks back at with fond memories.