Shaquille O’Neal was going to “kill” Kobe Bryant – NBA Update
The rivalry between former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant is only matched by the devastating partnership they formed on court. Now that Shaq’s book is out, we can revisit the 2003-2004 season, when
O’Neal apparently wanted to “kill” his colleague.
Los Angeles had gone through a very fruitful three seasons from 1999-to-2002, when they won three consecutive NBA World Championships. There shine wore off next season though and was attributed to the public feud between the two
super stars on the team.
So when Karl Malone and Gary Payton came on broad for another Championship push in 2003-2004, coach Phil Jackson wanted the resident duo to cut out the infighting.
"Just before the start of the '03-'04 season the coaching staff called us in and said, ‘No more public sparring or you'll get fined.’ ... Phil was tired of it. Karl Malone and Gary Payton were sick of it," O’Neal reveals in his
book, as reported on deadspin.
However, Bryant didn’t mind getting a little fine and he decided to go on TV and take a swipe at O’Neal. Shaq was recovering from a toe injury at the time, one that impacted severely on his career, but Kobe decided to accuse him
of exaggerating the issue. Bryant also levelled charges at O’Neal for being overweight.
"So what happens? Immediately after that Kobe runs right out to Jim Gray and does this interview where he lets me have it. He said I was fat and out of shape. He said I was milking my toe injury for more time off, and the injury
wasn't even that serious."
Shaquille says he “exploded” when watching the interview on TV. Jim Gray told a completely one sided story and it was hugely inappropriate for Kobe to attack his teammate in the public domain any way.
On top of it, Bryant’s interview aired just after the two of them had been told by Jackson to lay off each other. The Diesel was pretty incensed and he let people know he was going to do something about this.
“Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we’d stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, “I’m going to kill him.” O’Neal wrote.
The Diesel goes on to state that he decided he was done talking to Bryant after the incident. He went through that season with the Lakers alongside Bryant, but he did it for the veterans Payton and Malone.
The season ultimately ended in failure anyway when the Lakers lost the NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons. Payton and Malone went home, and Shaquille left for the Miami Heat next season.
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