"This type of duo, I don't think you'll ever see again."
"Never ever — ever ever?"
Kobe Bryant's former Los Angeles Lakers teammate, Shaquille O'Neal, pledged to change his life
after the heartbreaking helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter,
Gianna, and seven others on Jan. 26, 2020.
Shaq took to The Big Podcast With Shaq to talk about the fragility of life and the way
forward after tragedy.
O'Neal got real, saying:
"You don't really know how long you have left.
I'm all about being hard and all that, but [...] I'm going to have to delete my beef
and my confrontation clause.
I don't want to do that anymore."
O'Neal and Bryant led the Lakers to three consecutive championships between 2000 and
2002, but the two superstars brought the heat both on and off the court, resulting in one
of the most notorious NBA feuds of all time.
Their drama reportedly prompted O'Neal's trade to the Miami Heat in 2004.
Now, as O'Neal reflects upon his tumultuous past with Bryant, he has promised to cool
his hot temper in the future.
He added, quote, "I guess I'll just call all the people I've had discrepancies with and
just say, 'Look, man, I love you.'"
Back on the topic of Kobe Bryant - and how he really felt about the late NBA superstar
- O'Neal said:
"Our relationship was that of brothers […] All this stuff that is documented between us,
it was never a dislike.
This is what brothers do [...] I love Kobe Bryant.
I'm the first to say, 'Hey, I got four rings and I know I couldn't have got three without
him.'"
"You know, this night is made a lot sweeter because I know you have four and I have five."
Bryant was drafted right out of high school in 1996 to suit up for the Los Angeles Lakers.
O'Neal was drafted in '92 but also joined the Lakers in '96.
However, because of Bryant's rookie status, O'Neal supposedly told the press he wasn't,
quote, "going to be babysitting" Bryant, laying the shaky foundation for their fraught relationship.
According to Clutch Points, the feud truly gained traction during the 2000-2001 campaign,
when O'Neal allegedly showed up to training camp out of shape.
O'Neal's lack of preparation reportedly drove the Lakers to shift its offensive focus to
Bryant.
Despite their underlying issues, one thing was clear, the duo made an undeniably powerful
pair.
Time softened the competitive edge between the two NBA legends, who became close friends.
On The Big Podcast With Shaq, O'Neal admitted that he'd been watching old footage from their
time together on the hardwood.
He admitted, quote, "I'm glad we became closer.
But I just sit back and say, 'What if?'"
O'Neal took to Twitter to share his grief and disbelief when he learned about the helicopter
crash in the hills of Calabasas, California.
He tweeted:
"There's no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of [losing] my neice
Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed.
My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on
board.
IM SICK RIGHT NOW."
During a television special honoring Kobe Bryant on TNT, Shaquille O'Neal spoke about
the way this tragedy has changed his outlook toward the future.
"I lost a little brother."
When his nephew broke the terrible news to him about Bryant, O'Neal initially thought
it was a hoax news story - and, as a result, he snapped in anger until his phone started
to ring and he received confirmation of his friend's death.
He admitted, quote, "I said, 'Man, get that out of my face.
Get it away from me.'"
He added that he had not, quote, "felt a pain that sharp in a while."
After the segment, O'Neal led fans in a "Kobe" chant outside the Staples Center and concluded
with a call to make changes in the future.
Shaq acknowledged that his priorities need some fine-tuning.
He confessed:
“In life, sometimes instead of holding back certain things, we should just do."
Tears streaming down his face, he expressed sorrow over, quote, "the things you can't
get back" - little moments that pass us by.
"I'm gonna try to do a better job of just reaching out and just talking to the people
rather than always procrastinating because you never know."