Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant couldn’t work together just a little more than a decade ago, and with that the core of a Lakers’ team that had won three titles in a row went supernova in a very public fashion. All because of the oversized egos of those two men.
A decade later, they get along fine and look back at themselves from that era as immature kids. Kobe knows he was a little too headstrong and pushy, Shaq knows he should have worked harder.
That’s the core of what Shaq and Kobe get into on The Big Podcast with Shaq, which drops Monday. We’ve brought you other quotes from that, but Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times got a listen and had more details in a story Sunday.
Kobe said that the beefs were one thing, but both of them taking their fight to the press made things worse. People’s positions became entrenched, and feelings were hurt. Kobe also said he was young and headstrong and was not going to back down — even if it meant fighting Shaq.
Shaq also said that Phil Jackson — despite the fact he later wrote Kobe didn’t listen and was hard to coach — was fair.
I look forward to hearing the entire podcast. It will be two guys looking back at their youth and shaking their heads, which is something we can all relate to.