One of the biggest clashes in the NBA is seemingly resolved. Yes, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard have reconciled. Two Bigs of their time, for most part of the year, traded jabs, but it comes full circle. Throughout their career, there were many similar factors between the two, one of which was Kobe Bryant. Howard’s one season with Kobe did not end as many predicted it would. It was apparently Shaq’s teachings that led to this situation in the first place.

We all know how O’Neal had his methods to get the best out of his teammates. “Kobe #1, he had the master killer mentality and I like to say I helped him get that.” Last year, the Lakers legend took the credit for helping Kobe find that Mamba Mentality. And it seems the mentee did the same with Dwight Howard. Shaquille O’Neal, on his podcast with DH12, asked about the Kobe bond and if they had any scuffles. The 3x DPOY detailed only one instance.

“We got into one scuffle during the game, and after that, we kind of we didn’t really talk too much. And I felt like, you know, we kind of went opposite ways than what we should have, I felt like we didn’t really communicate.” Howard was part of the 2012-13 squad, and it’s the same season where Kobe suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the 80th game of the season. There were comments from Kobe: “I tried teaching Dwight. I tried showing him. And I don’t think he was willing to deal with that uncomfortable and combative nature.” But there was a deeper meaning behind this, thanks to Shaquille O’Neal.

These comments from Bryant fueled rumors about a tiff between him and Howard. Shaq made sure to take the credit. “Who do you think he got that from?” Howard replied, “He probably got it from you, so what is it?” O’Neal then explained the reasoning behind Kobe publicly calling out DH12.

“Exactly, so, what is it as I told you at the bar. So I was playing the mentor role, I wanted you to be the mentee. Many different types (of mentors), there’s the soft one, ‘do this and that,’ and then there’s the firm hand one. I wanted you to be so mad that I wanted you to dominate like I told you before,” said Shaq. As per the 4x NBA champion, Kobe called out Howard to light a fire under him and expected him to perform better.

Not just O’Neal, another former teammate of Kobe Bryant, expressed the same sentiment to Dwight Howard

The lack of communication from Howard and Kobe led to the former leaving the Lakers after one season. Even though he would come back the second time during the LeBron era and win the championship. But the first stint debacle is still on DH12’s mind. But it was Carmelo Anthony, another former Laker star. Even though he did not play with Kobe in an NBA team, both shared a great bond ever since the 2008 USA Olympic team.

Melo, Dwight Howard are heading to the Hall of Fame twice this year. Once as an individual, and then the above-mentioned ‘Redeem team’. Since Melo understood Kobe, he said: “Even with you though, it was more like ‘Yo, I got to see if he really want it. I got to see like I want to see like it.’ It became almost competitive to push you to be who he wanted you to be or who he thought you should be.”

Even during Melo’s podcast, Dwight Howard stated that if Kobe had spoken to him before, the things wouldn’t have played out the way it played. Similarly, this feeling is the same toward Shaquille O’Neal’s constant criticism. But now he understood where the two Lakers legends were coming from, it was their tactic to inspire DH12 to play better. A tactic that Shaq takes credit for imparting to Kobe.