As most sports fan know, Kobe & Shaq didn’t have the greatest relationship in the past when they played together. So how are they now?! Well Shaq hit up the Lakers/Suns game last night and Kobe and Dwight both spoke on it. They had complete opposite views on Shaq being courtside. Check it out.
According to Dave McMenamin at ESPN:
No word on whether pigs can fly yet, but Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are getting along these days.
The former Los Angeles Lakers teammates, who infamously feuded during their time together from 1996 to 2004, have buried the hatchet, according to Bryant.
“It was good to see him,” Bryant said after O’Neal sat in courtside seats for the Lakers’ 91-85 win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. “I had a chance to kind of catch up with him a little bit after the [Miami] Heat game here at Staples [on Jan. 17], and tonight we got a couple good laughs, a couple good inside jokes.”
“Shaq and I have a really, really good relationship now,” Bryant said of the 15-time All-Star with whom he teamed to capture three straight NBA championships from 2000 to ’02.
“It’s good. I think it’s a good lesson for all of us.”
Bryant exchanged several glances with O’Neal during the game, particularly after the big man was on the kiss cam pretending to make out with the man sitting next to him. O’Neal was later “escorted” out of the arena after the third quarter by actor Will Ferrell, who was dressed as a Staples Center security guard complete with a red jacket and identity badge.
“I think we appreciate each other more now than ever,” Bryant said. “I think the further you get away from the history that you had together, the more you put perspective on it on how dominant we were.
“It’s fun for us to kind of get together again and kind of reminisce on some of the old stories. It’s fun. It’s good to see him.”
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O’Neal’s presence wasn’t as fun for Lakers center Dwight Howard, whom O’Neal has repeatedly needled in the media.
“I didn’t really pay attention to him,” Howard said of O’Neal.
Howard fired back at O’Neal’s constant criticism in the preseason, telling reporters, “I don’t care what Shaq says. Shaq played the game. He’s done. He’s gone. It’s time to move on.”
