Kobe Bryant has “Nothing but Love” for Shaq

In what turned into a little feud between former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal aka Shaq, Bryant said that he has “no beef” with Shaq. “Nothing but love” is what Kobe had for Shaq.

“There is no beef with @SHAQ I know most media want to see it but it ain’t gonna happen. Ain’t nothing but love there and we too old to beef anyway #3peat,” Kobe tweeted.

Though there has been quite a history of conflicts between the two, the recent dispute seems to have arisen a few days ago when Byant, in an interview criticised the work ethic of the big man.

“He’d be the greatest of all time, for sure,” Bryant said. “He’d be the first to tell you that. This guy was a force like I have never seen. It was crazy. A guy at that size, generally guys at that size are a little timid and they don’t want to be tall, they don’t want to be big.

“Man, this dude was, he did not care. He was mean. He was nasty. He was competitive. He was vindictive. He was … yeah, I wish he was in the gym. I would have had f—ing 12 rings.”

When a video clip of the interview came out on Instagram, O’Neal was quick to respond.

“U woulda had twelve if you passed the ball more especially in the finals against the pistons #facts,” O’Neal commented.

O’Neal added, “You don’t get statues by not working hard.”

The latest tweet from Bryant seemed to have suggested that he was nothing but being appreciative of O’Neal. But Shaq also gave a quick response to the tweet bringing in another player Dwight Howard, who currently plays as a centre in the Lakers team.

“It’s all good bro, when I saw the interview, I thought you were talking about Dwite, is that how u spell his name lol,” O’Neal tweeted in reply.

Since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal started playing together for the Lakers, they played well on the court, but off the court, they have been in the news for a all but the right reasons. The duo helped Lakers win the championship for three consecutive times from 2000 to 2002. O’Neal was the MVP in each of the finals. They also made it to the finals in 2004, after which differences between them in terms of their roles rose. In 2004, Shaq was traded to Miami Heat while Bryant was resigned as a free agent. The troubles between the two were up to such an extent that Lakers head coach, Phil Jackson would later write a book named The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul, reflecting on the situation of Bryant and O’Neal during their last season together.