Shaquille O'Neal has revealed what he wished he said to the late and great Kobe Bryant, who sadly passed away in 2020 following a horror helicopter accident.
Shaq and Kobe were one of the most dominant forces in basketball, winning three back-to-back NBA finals with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000 to 2002, becoming the fifth team in the league's history to do so.
Both have gone down in sport folklore, with Shaq a four-time NBA winner, 15-time all-star and three-time finals MVP and Kobe a five-time NBA winner, 18-time all-star and two-time finals MVP.
They were unstoppable on the court but off the court, their relationship was never plain sailing. Shaq was on a mission to become the most successful and richest athlete in the world, while Kobe was laser-focused on his game and nothing else.
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The difference in their personalities caused tension from time to time between the teammates for years, before Shaq was eventually traded to the Miami Heat in 2004.
Their feud eventually de-escalated in their later years, as Kobe won two more titles and Shaq, one, before both called time on their careers.
After the pair retired, they had a one-on-one sit-down interview in 2018 to hash out their supposed feud and talk about their respect for one another, which led to fans believing that a deeper friendship was in the works.
The basketball great has now teamed up with Klarna for Christmas by changing his name to 'Shaquille O'Deal', now having his own place in their app where he helps customers find the best deals, and spoke to LADbible in partnership with the company about a number of things from business to basketball and his relationship with Kobe Bryant.
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Shaq often referred to Kobe as his 'little brother' when they played together, and admitted to us that his late teammate was always up for any challenges he set him, while revealing exactly what he wished he said before his former teammate passed away for the first time.
As part of the chat, the two-time NBA scoring champion revealed: "I always used to challenge him when we were playing together. So I challenged him in his last game to hit 50, and he hit 60.
"So you know, from start to finish, whenever I challenged him, he always accepted the challenge, did the challenge and overdid the challenge."
He then admitted: I wish I could have had more conversations with him, but you got to realise that, you know, we're two different people."
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The pair last spoke in their 2018 interview, as the 52-year-old admitted that he didn't 'like to bother and call' people, with Kobe being the same, and also revealed that most of their conversations were about basketball.
"We're definitely be the most dominant one-two punch basketball has ever seen, and that's including Magic (Johnson) and Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), they were no.2," he boldly stated about the iconic 80s' duo.
But was there anything that he wished he told Kobe before his passing four years ago?
When asked about what he would have said exactly, he answered: "'Hi', 'Love you', 'What's up?' 'How you doing?' You know? I would like (to have) a lot of time," Shaq admitted, adding that life and work takes over sometimes, despite us wanting to call our loved ones.
He highlighted: "That's why I always tell people, when you think about somebody, just make sure you contact them."
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Speaking about his success as an athlete and a brand post-retirement, he admitted that he wanted to be the 'richest athlete in the world', but there was someone in his way.
"I can remember having all the endorsements doing this and just wanting to have that title," he said. "But it was always this good looking kid from London, David Beckham, he was always ahead of me! So, you know, seeing what he was doing just made me work harder."
Opening up on the current crop of NBA superstars, he shared that they could all become all-time greats, naming Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo in particular, but clarified that 'all of them' could be hall of famers.
"I remember a time where the gap between American basketball and European basketball was really far, but now it's really, really close," he highlighted.
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The man known as 'The Diesel' also spoke about his admission that he threw away his 1996 Olympic gold medal, having been on the bench for the final game behind David Robinson, barely playing as a result.
"The reason why I don't regret it, is because when I win an accolade, I forget about it anyway, and I'll move on to the next accolade. So I said to myself, forget this when I get another one. And then I did get another one in 2000," the 2000 NBA MVP stated.
Topics: Basketball, Sport, Business, Celebrity
Joshua Nair