“You’re Tom Brady”: Despite Slapping Kobe Bryant for His Ambition, Shaquille O’Neal Once Encouraged Patrick Mahomes To Take Over NFL

Rivalries are a common thing in sports. Be it the NFL or the NBA, players often find themselves at odds with others for numerous reasons. There was a time when NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were feuding with each other. Shaq even slapped Bryant during a training session in 98, because he thought Kobe was too ambitious. Though years later, he encouraged Patrick Mahomes to be ambitious.

Not that Mahomes needs any sort of encouragement. The Chiefs’ primary signal caller, who they picked #10 overall back in 2017, has turned out to be their best investment ever. The young phenom has slowly made his way to the upper echelons of the league. Added to that, he has been dominant in their run for the Super Bowl last season. Though Brady and Mahomes have nothing compared to what the NBA stars had.

Shaq slapping Kobe was one of the most shocking events of 1998. What started with them trading words during a practice game, soon became a heated argument, culminating in a fight that had to be broken up. For Shaq, the younger Kobe was getting too ahead of himself and did not appreciate Bryant taking over his team. However, Shaq may have had a change of heart after retiring.

Shaquille O’Neal once encouraged Patrick Mahomes to be ambitious

In the days leading up to Super Bowl LV, Shaquille O’Neal spoke to TMZ in an exclusive interview, in which he congratulated Tom Brady for sticking it up to the Patriots.

Shaq: “The way he came in … this is his 10th Super Bowl and [to] play with a franchise and then the franchise kinda [says], ‘Oh, you’re old, bye!’ and he said ‘Okay, you don’t wanna take care of me, after all, I did for this city? Watch this!’,” Shaq said.

He also had some words for the then-young and rising star Patrick Mahomes:

“This is what I like to see in championship games — the old versus the new. Is it gonna be the old guy to continue to dominate? Or will the young guy finally come in to say, ‘Hey, I know you’re Tom Brady but this is my time to shine?!’… at some point, the student must kill the master to become the master,” he said.

So in short, Shaq had problems with Kobe being too ambitious at a young age, but when it came to young and ambitious Patrick Mahomes who was willing to defeat the most successful QB of all time in the championship clash, Shaq was fine with it, at least his “Student-Master” analogy points in that direction.

Nevertheless, Mahomes and Brady faced off against each other for Super Bowl LV in 2022. In what was a rather one-sided game, Tom Brady helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl in his debut season with Tampa Bay. Though it is often seen as a triumph of the old against the new, in retrospect, it was only a minor setback for the to-be-legend Mahomes, who has taken his game to a whole new level.

Mahomes is all set to follow Shaq’s advice and take over the NFL

While the Mahomes-Brady rivalry never took off enough to entertain fans, Mahomes is in a position to take over Brady’s crown nevertheless. With the 7x Super Bowl winner’s retirement earlier this year, the path is wide open for Mahomes to shine. Which he is already taking advantage of, by winning his second Super Bowl last season. He was even named the MVP, both for the regular season and the Super Bowl.

While there are a few other signal callers who regularly manage to push him to his limits, Mahomes is, by popular opinion, the new face of the NFL. Of course, it will be a spectacularly difficult journey to match Tom Brady’s record of Super Bowl rings. However, knowing Patrick Mahomes, it may not be an impossible task.

As for Brady, he seems to be content with his achievements on the gridiron. Though he is certainly not done with football at all. With his new role as Fox Sports’ lead analyst, fans will be able to see TB12 analyzing the newer generation of QBs. Maybe he will find one who resembles him among the pack? Will Brady be the one who picks a future legend of the sport?