Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are arguably the greatest duo the NBA has ever seen. Unfortunately for Los Angeles Lakers fans, the two only played eight seasons together, but won three championships.
Related: Kobe Bryant: A tale of two jerseys
The duo could’ve won more, but ultimately broke up after years of back-and-forth drama. It was after the Lakers shockingly lost the 2004 NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons that Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat.
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The former teammates’ first matchup against each other occurred on Christmas Day in 2004.
The Heat would get the win in an overtime thriller, 104-102, but the big story wouldn’t be the game. Instead, it was the interaction between Kobe and Shaq before the game.
As the players lined up for the opening tip, Kobe went directly to Shaq to greet him, but Shaq looked away. Clearly, he wanted no part of a reunion. In Shaq’s mind, Kobe was the reason why Shaq left the Lakers.
The Kobe-Shaq feud appeared as if it would never end. This all changed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2006.
Kobe and Shaq reunited on MLK Day
On MLK Day in 2006, the Heat traveled to Los Angeles to play the Lakers. To the surprise of everyone, Shaq greeted Kobe before the game, and it appeared as if the two had made up.
The reason for the reunion was because of the great Bill Russell. Days before the MLK Day game, Russell met with Shaq and told him to make peace with Kobe.
Russell explained to Shaq his long-standing beef with Wilt Chamberlain. The two giants of the 1960s started off as friends but that quickly went sour after Russell retired.
Luckily, Russell made up with Wilt a little before he passed away in 1999. Russell didn’t want Shaq to miss out on an opportunity to make amends with Kobe.
Shaq followed Russell’s advice and approached Kobe as he was being stretched by the Lakers’ athletic trainer before the game.
“I had orders from the great Bill Russell,” Shaq explained. “Me and him were talking in Seattle the other day, and he was telling me how rivalries should be. I asked him if he ever disliked anybody he played against, and he told me, ‘No, never,’ and he told [me] that I should shake Kobe Bryant’s hand and let bygones be bygones and bury the hatchet.”
Shaq went on to add the importance of forgiving Kobe on MLK Day.
“Today is a day of peace. Dr. Martin Luther King was an ambassador of peace. So, when I talked to Mr. Russell, he told me that he and Chamberlain spoke once or twice a week before he passed away. And even though people thought they hated each other, there was nothing but love there.”
Kobe reacted to Shaq’s kindness, expressing how it made him feel good.
“It made me feel good. We’ve been through so many wars together. I think it’s good for the city of Los Angeles, good for the NBA, good for the youth, being Martin Luther King Day.”
No one could have predicted the tragedy that occurred on January 26, 2020. The world lost not just a great basketball player but an amazing father and creative mind in Kobe Bryant.
Shaq is happy he had the opportunity to squash the beef with Kobe. It was great to see the two during interviews laughing and enjoying each other’s company in the years after Kobe retired from the NBA.
