Shaquille O’Neal is set to get his jersey retired on Tuesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Shaq is known for his larger than life attitude, but also for the various feuds and skirmishes he was involved in during his NBA career. Both Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant will both be in attendance on Tuesday night. One big feud that took Bryant’s and O’Neal’s battles over the top ended with Shaq getting shipped out to Miami for Lamar Odom. Here’s looking back at some note-able moments in the Kobe/Shaq feud:
1996: Kobe, Shaq both join Lakers
1998: Shaq reportedly jealous of Kobe’s jersey sales; accuses Kobe of playing selfish basketball.
1999-2000: Shaq mocks Kobe’s crossover/turnovers during All-Star Game introductions; states it’s an inside joke between him and Kobe.
2000-2001: Kobe calls out Shaq for coming into camp out of shape. Kobe wants a new roster for change in play; Shaq still wants the ball to run through him in the offense.
2001-2002: Shaq/Kobe played nice for most of the season; ends season with teams third consecutive championship.
2002-2003: Team starts slow. Kobe becomes more aggressive, resulting in strong numbers for Kobe, but Shaq’s inability to get healthy results in poor playoff seeding and loss to Spurs, ending championship run.
2003-2004: Kobe deals with rape accusations. Shaq says Malone, Payton came to L.A. for one player, not two, dismissing Kobe. Shaq also states that Bryant should focus on distributing rather than shooting while recovering from his knee injury. Kobe’s responded that Shaq should focus on playing in the post, rather than worried about the guard position. Phil Jackson fines Kobe for comments made to the press. Ultimately Kobe, Shaq and the Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games in the NBA Finals.
The feud reaches a high point. L.A. doesn’t bring back Phil Jackson, and Mitch Kupchak says he would consider trading O’Neal, which made Shaq to demand a trade. Shaq goes to Miami and Bryant signs a long-term extension with the Lakers.
Skipping to the more recent years:
2010-11: Shaq retires from the NBA, essentially ending the on-court rivalry between Bryant. Shaq stated, “I don’t like to live in a world of ifs. But if we would have stayed, possibly we could have got six [championships].”
2011-12: Kobe passes Shaq on the all-time scoring list, prompting Shaq to say he was proud of Bryant’s accomplishments. Kobe opened up about the feud, stating that the two have a good relationship now and that the whole thing was a “good learning experience.”
1996: Kobe, Shaq both join Lakers
1998: Shaq reportedly jealous of Kobe’s jersey sales; accuses Kobe of playing selfish basketball.
1999-2000: Shaq mocks Kobe’s crossover/turnovers during All-Star Game introductions; states it’s an inside joke between him and Kobe.
2000-2001: Kobe calls out Shaq for coming into camp out of shape. Kobe wants a new roster for change in play; Shaq still wants the ball to run through him in the offense.
2001-2002: Shaq/Kobe played nice for most of the season; ends season with teams third consecutive championship.
2002-2003: Team starts slow. Kobe becomes more aggressive, resulting in strong numbers for Kobe, but Shaq’s inability to get healthy results in poor playoff seeding and loss to Spurs, ending championship run.
2003-2004: Kobe deals with rape accusations. Shaq says Malone, Payton came to L.A. for one player, not two, dismissing Kobe. Shaq also states that Bryant should focus on distributing rather than shooting while recovering from his knee injury. Kobe’s responded that Shaq should focus on playing in the post, rather than worried about the guard position. Phil Jackson fines Kobe for comments made to the press. Ultimately Kobe, Shaq and the Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games in the NBA Finals.
The feud reaches a high point. L.A. doesn’t bring back Phil Jackson, and Mitch Kupchak says he would consider trading O’Neal, which made Shaq to demand a trade. Shaq goes to Miami and Bryant signs a long-term extension with the Lakers.
Skipping to the more recent years:
2010-11: Shaq retires from the NBA, essentially ending the on-court rivalry between Bryant. Shaq stated, “I don’t like to live in a world of ifs. But if we would have stayed, possibly we could have got six [championships].”
2011-12: Kobe passes Shaq on the all-time scoring list, prompting Shaq to say he was proud of Bryant’s accomplishments. Kobe opened up about the feud, stating that the two have a good relationship now and that the whole thing was a “good learning experience.”
RSS Feed