Treating Them Like “2 Animals” He Can’t Control, Phil Jackson Let Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant Tear Each Other Apart in the Locker Room But Only with 1 Condition

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant might not have had the closest relationship off-court but the duo had been a force to be reckoned with in the NBA for a long time. Two Hall of Famers had played for the same team, but their rivalry is no secret to NBA fans. Despite their several disputes, the duo never let their off-court issues affect their on-court performance.

During their stint together in LA, the duo had led the Lakers to win three back-to-back championship titles. According to Shaq, former Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson had his little trick of motivating the players to give their best performance on the court.

Shaquille O’Neal on his bittersweet relationship with Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson

In a recent interview with PBD Podcast, Shaquille O’Neal talked about the time he played with Kobe Bryant. He revealed that Bryant was obsessed with being the best, whereas, Shaq was obsessed with being the most dominant. Furthermore, Kobe would work out all the time, so Shaq would always push his buttons. He cleared the misconception about their rivalry and said it was Shaq’s leadership style to drive Kobe to give his best.

“This ain’t your team, this is my team, little man. You might be Kobe, but I’m the Shaq.” said Shaq, when he was asked how he would push Bryant’s buttons.

Shaq also revealed that Phil Jackson would never interfere during their interactions. But his only condition was that the duo played in tandem as a team on the court,“–you got two animals going at it and his only request was, on the court, make sure you play as one and you know that’s what we did.” said Shaq

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Recalling what Kobe once said, Shaq agreed that Jackson would deliberately get under their skins by commenting on them in interviews. This would initially drive a wedge between the players, but they would eventually unite later on. Several months after Kobe passed away in the helicopter crash in 2020, O’Neal had said in an interview that he regrets not having a close relationship with Kobe.

However, the two Lakers legends did reconcile their differences before the tragedy. In fact, they met with each other on multiple occasions and talked about their rivalry on the court and beyond. And on those occasions, fans realized that the two great players may be disparate in terms of style of play. But they are pretty similar in their competitive spirit.

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Do you agree with Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson’s method of motivation? Let us know in the comments!