Subscribe
Follow Us
In 2004, one of the most dominant partnerships in NBA history came to an end after Shaquille O'Neal was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving Kobe Bryant as the team's leader. In an NBA TV “Players Only: Shaq & Kobe” special, they discussed their beef and how they parted.
It's clear that their feud is long over and both are cool with how everything played out. O'Neal mentions that in 2004, he wanted to get paid big:
“After the game in the [2004] Finals we lost, we had the team dinner. And [former Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak] came in, he sat by you and your lovely wife, but listen, he didn't say nothing to me… And I said to myself ‘Oh oh, I'm in trouble.'
By then, the Lakers were already listening to offers for O'Neal. But it turns out that during that same offseason, Bryant was ready to move on from his Laker days to play for the Chicago Bulls.
“We were actually looking for homes in Chicago. Researching schools, places to live.”
O'Neal was amazed and asked about the rumors. Bryant says he wanted to go solo and prove he could win a ring by his own:
“I don't want this conversation. When I retire, I don't want people to say ‘Okay, he only won because of Shaq.' As unfair as that is, Magic [Johnson] never won without [Kareem-Abdul Jabbar], right? Michael [Jordan] never won without Scottie [Pippen]… So, therefore, I knew ‘Okay, I gotta go.'”
But just after Bryant flew to Chicago, O'Neal surprisingly got traded. The Black Mamba said:
“We're on vacation at Italy. I got a phone call, [former agent] Rob Pelinka called and he said, ‘Shaq just requested a trade.' I was like, ‘Well, there goes Chicago.' Because there's no way the Lakers would lose me and Shaq in the same year.”
Both players went on to enjoy success, nonetheless, with Bryant winning two championships with the Lakers and O'Neal with one title for the Miami Heat.
