Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant had a complicated relationship that resulted in a lot of fighting during their playing days. The two might not have seen eye to eye but they always respected each other.
While reflecting on his shocking 2020 death in an interview with People magazine, O’Neal said he wished he reached out more to his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate before his fatal helicopter crash in January 2020.
“You put off [getting in touch],” O’Neal said. “I’ll never get to see Kobe again, in real life, forever. And I just should have called. He should have called. We both should have called. But he’s working, I’m working, so it’s ‘I’ll see you when I see you.'”
After winning three straight championships together, Shaq and Kobe got into a major feud that resulted in the big man being traded to the Miami Heat in 2004.
O’Neal said he and Bryant still loved and respected each other and wishes they had more time as he thought they would as the years went by.
“[I thought], ‘We’re both going to get old. We’ll both be at the 50-year Lakers anniversary,'” O’Neal said. “Other things shouldn’t have been more important [than getting in touch], but little things [got in the way].”
He then advised fans to learn from his mistake and check in on their loved ones.
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“Call your mom. Call your brother. Call the homeboy you used to party with in college. Forever is a long time.”
O’Neal played for the Lakers from 1996-2004, appealing in four NBA Finals. He also won the league’s MVP award for his 1999-2000 season run with Los Angeles. The 15-time All-Star boasts career regular season averages of 23.7 points, plus 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 blocks a game.
In a span of two decades, Bryant averaged 25.0 points and 4.7 assists per game. The Hall of Famer earned All-Star honors a whopping 18 times.
