“I Just Wanted to Be the Best at Killing You”: Shaquille O’Neal Confesses How “Different Animal” Kobe Bryant Shared Similarities With the Lakers Legend

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant big men ever. However, there were suggestions that he could have been the greatest player ever had he worked harder. Even his Los Angeles Lakers teammate the late Kobe Bryant has stated that. O’Neal is always compared with Bryant for his work ethic. Bryant did not go out much and did not have a lot of friends. All he wanted to do was work to be the best player ever. Shaq on the other hand had a great social life.

When Shaq joined the Lakers in 1996, he was already a superstar who led the Orlando Magic to the Finals. The same year, the Lakers received Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets on draft day. Bryant was coming straight out of high school but the Lakers were confident he could be a future star. He worked hard to earn his time in the starting lineup.

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Despite having a good team, the Lakers could not win a title. And there was a feud brewing between O’Neal and Kobe. Their egos clashed as both wanted to be the main man of the team.

Shaquille O’Neal wanted to be the most dominant ever

Shaquille O’Neal recently appeared on the ‘Drink Champs’ podcast. During the show, he was asked whether the competitive nature of Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan was great. Interestingly, the ‘Big Diesel’ admitted Kobe was a “different animal.” He stated he has seen the ‘Mamba’ work on his dribble and shot without a ball for an hour. Then Shaq explained the similarities between his and Kobe’s attitudes.

“I think we had similar attitudes. Like, Kobe wanted to be the best ever. I wanted to just be the best in killing you,” O’Neal said. He added, “When I walk in, I want people changing rules, people scared, people going like this. Remember Kobe is like, ‘I want to be the best ever.’ And he used to practice four or five hours a day. I’m not doing that because my attitude was, ‘Why am I practicing four of five hours for you? Who are you?’ I already know what I gotta do.”

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Despite their beef, Bryant and Shaq were able to work together to achieve their common goal of winning a ring. Then the arrival of legendary head coach Phil Jackson made things easier. He was coming to the Lakers after winning six titles with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

With the help of Jackson, O’Neal became unstoppable winning the scoring title and MVP award in 2000. The Lakers went on to win three straight NBA titles for the first time in their history. Shaq dominated all three finals and won three Finals MVP awards.