Back in the early 2000s, the Lakers were a dynasty—but not without drama. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were the one-two punch that powered L.A. to three straight championships. Yet, behind the banners and confetti, something was always simmering. Their relationship constantly made headlines, and when the Lakers traded Shaq to the Miami Heat in 2004, it felt like the final blow to what many believed was a deeply rooted feud.

But surprisingly, that’s not how Shaq sees it. In fact, on The Big Podcast, he brushed off the feud narrative altogether. “The respect has to always be there. We don’t see eye-to-eye. But it ain’t a feud. It just looks like a feud,” Shaq said. He even pointed out how much he leaned on Kobe during games, adding, “When I’m getting doubled, he’s the first dude I’m looking for.”

But, things weren’t always that simple. Recently, Lakers legend Rick Fox offered some insight on the Giant Ideas Podcast, pointing to one very specific habit of Shaq’s that may have kicked off the rift. “Shaq needed the attention. He wanted the love and appreciation for being a benevolent king,” Fox explained. If you showed him respect and acknowledged him as the team’s leader, he’d give you everything. But if you didn’t? That’s when things got tricky.

In fact, when asked what happened if a teammate didn’t give Shaq that recognition, Fox didn’t hold back. “He could be one of the nastiest, you know, animals to run into in the jungle,” he said. And when it came to Kobe, things boiled over. “They’ve even fought themselves between the two of them… Kobe didn’t back down to Shaq.”

Then Fox revealed the story. “Shaq’s a big guy, you know. But Shaq wanted and needed Kobe to be the little brother, a little longer than Kobe wanted to be the little brother,” he said. “Kobe reached a point in his career after the first four or five years, we’d won championships that he didn’t want to be, you know, the little brother. He wanted to be the leader. And that was the challenge. There could only be one king of the team. And that’s where they started to clash. But we still, to this day, survived even longer with the friction in the midst of our success.”

So, while that friction never fully faded, neither did the respect.

Shaquille O’Neal regrets feud with Kobe Bryant

Shaquille O’Neal, who once shared the spotlight—and tension—with Kobe Bryant during their Lakers run, has opened up about the one thing he wishes he’d done differently. Despite the drama that surrounded their partnership, the big man admitted to People that not reaching out still weighs heavy on him.

“You put off [getting in touch]… I’ll never get to see Kobe again, in real life, forever,” Shaq said. “And I just should have called. He should have called. We both should have called.”

Naturally, they did try to mend things as the years passed. Shaq had even imagined a future where they’d reunite on a Lakers anniversary stage, reminiscing about the dynasty days. “We’re both going to get old. We’ll both be at the 50-year Lakers anniversary,” he said. But that chance was lost with Kobe’s tragic passing in 2020, alongside his daughter Gianna and seven others.

Even in the midst of their most heated moments, there was always a layer of mutual drive and unspoken respect. “Kobe and I pushed one another to play some of the greatest basketball of all time,” Shaq recalled during the 2020 memorial. Sure, they clashed—but they also created a legacy that defined a generation.

Now, the message from Shaq is clear. “Call your mom. Call your brother… Forever is a long time.” And for him, that silence turned out to be the loudest regret.