Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were teammates but this didn’t stop them from constantly locking heads. Both these superstars wanted to be the face and name of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. However, no team can have two alphas. This was made clear in the case of the Lakers. The dynamic between the two worsened towards the 2003-04 season. Kobe had a sit-down interview with veteran sports journalist Jim Gary. In this unreleased interview, Kobe Bryant came with all guns blazing and attacked Shaq. When the Big Aristotle was made aware of the interview, all hell broke loose.

Kobe Bryant’s dedication to the game was unmatchable. This is well-known in the NBA Community. So when Shaq’s mindset didn’t match his, Bryant was livid. In the interview with Jim Gary, Kobe attacked Shaq on all levels. He called him lazy, fat and questioned his commitment to the game. He said, “A guy selling Donuts at the 7-Eleven had more pride in his job than Shaq did”.?Despite the interview not being released, Shaq found out and threatened to kill his teammate. John Salley, a former Laker star, witnessed this debacle upfront and recently spoke about the same.

How the Kobe Bryant interview changed Shaquille O’Neal

In an interview with VladTV, John Salley opened up about how Kobe’s comment affected Big Diesel. He pointed out that after these comments were made, at the end of the season, Shaq joined the Miami Heat.

Salley stated that the four-time NBA champion needed a force to bring out the best in Shaq and this force was Kobe’s comments. While referring to Mamba’s interview, Salley stated that Shaq wasn’t lazy rather he said, “Shaq had an affinity of gaining weight?. This weight gain affected his gameplay.

The narrative of Shaq being lazy and fat triggered a reaction in the 15-time All-Star. As Salley said, Shaq reached Miami and soon became the fittest he had ever been. Sally added, “That’s to prove I’m (Shaq) not fat I’m not lazy. Look at what but it took that (Kobe’s comments) and it took Pat Riley”.??

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Pat Riley, the coach of the Miami Heat, pushed Shaq to get fit. He’d force him to spend hours on the cycle and simply work towards getting fit. Following this, Shaq and the Miami Heat won a championship together.

Over the years, the bad blood between Kobe and Shaq dissolved. In an interview with Logan Paul, he spoke about their relationship. Shaq compared his relationship with Kobe to that of Logan and Jake Paul.

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He said, ” I see you guys argue all the time but in the end, the respect is there that’s why y’all are close.” For Shaq, this same principle applied to his equation with the later Lakers’ legend.