Can we ever get enough Kobe vs. Shaq feud stories? No. No we cannot.
It was the start of the 2000-01 season and Isaiah Rider had signed with the Lakers as a free agent, proving some backup two-guard depth behind Kobe Bryant. Then, on just the third day of training camp...
Let Rider himself tell the story, as he did on the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
Isaiah Rider said Shaq offered him $10,000 (in 1 dollar bills) to "get into it" with Kobe in practice.
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 9, 2020
Full #AllTheSmoke Episode: https://t.co/h9k1PdQPLA pic.twitter.com/IdjIMZkJ6s
“When I first get to the Lakers, Shaq tells me, ‘If you and Kobe get into it, it’s 10 Gs in the locker'…
This is three days into practice… I’m like, ‘Man, come on, you playing, man.’ ‘There’s 10 G’s in one-dollar bills, if you ever get into it and you handle your business, grab that'…
I couldn’t believe it. I’m like ‘Man, these boys are crazy, bro'… But this is my thing: I would’ve been off that team so fast if I laid a hand on that man.”
Remember, this is in 2000, at the start of the second year of the Lakers’ threepeat — things got much worse in the coming years, forcing the team to come apart after the 2004 season.
Shaq and Kobe patched up their differences after they both retired, and they became friends. Shaq spoke at Kobe’s Celebration of Life after he died in a tragic helicopter crash, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others.