Although he had tenures with several different NBA franchises, perhaps legendary center Shaquille O'Neal is most synonymous with his run as a big man for the Los Angeles Lakers during the late 1990s and early 200s. Of course, O'Neal's partner in crime during those dynastic Lakers days was none other than the late Kobe Bryant, and now, the Big Diesel is getting real about how he helped motivate Bryant during his early years in the league.

O'Neal recently took to Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young's From the Point podcast to discuss the subject.

“All the stuff I do now with players, I did with him,” said O'Neal, per Bleacher Report on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “When you've got a dog, you agitate him. He doesn't respond to nice. He responds like, ‘this is my s***t.' And I knew it ate him up a lot, but that was my tactic to keep him going. If you've got a killer pitbull, you don't pet him, you piss him off and make sure he stays that pitbull.”

Although O'Neal and Bryant were reported to have had their various disagreements both during and after their respective tenures with the Lakers, no one can argue with the results that the duo were able to accomplish together, as they helped Los Angeles win three straight world championships and usher in the franchise's first true run of prosperity in the post-Magic Johnson days.

It appears that O'Neal now harbors nothing but respect for his late teammate and friend.