Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant

Shaquille O’Neal shares heart-melting message for ‘lil bro’ Kobe Bryant on his fifth death anniversary

Kobe and Shaq remained teammates for eight years and won three championships together.

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant

Four-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal shared an emotional message for former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant’s fifth death anniversary. Kobe, a five-time champion, lost his life during the Calabasas, California helicopter crash in 2020 along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others when he was 41.

O’Neal, who won three championships with Kobe during their stay in the Lakers. They stayed teammates for eight years, and during that duration, they played 461 games together. While Shaq had an average of 26.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists, Kobe averaged at 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

To commemorate the death anniversary of his former teammate, the player-turned-commentator took to Instagram and shared a heart-warming message. Big Diesel uploaded throwback pictures of them and accompanied it with a caption,

“Miss you lil bro & miss you too Gigi #missyall #neverfogotten”

Kobe Bryant y Shaquille O´Neal. Uno de los mejores dúos en la historia de la NBA 💯 pic.twitter.com/JgZL5aBAM0
— Pasion Basket (@PasionBasketNBA) January 19, 2022

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s Famous Rivalry

While Shaq and Kobe shared a locker room for eight years, things weren’t always great between them. Things started to sour between them from early on in 1998 when Shaq was reportedly jealous of Kobe’s jersey sales and accused him of playing selfish basketball.

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Later Shaq ended up mocking Kobe’s crossovers during All-Star Game introductions in 1999-2000. While the Lakers managed to win three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002, Phil Jackson blamed their feud, which ultimately led to the end of the Lakers’ championship run in 2004.

O’Neal was later sent to the Heat and both players went on to patch things up. However, they couldn’t get to enjoy their repaired relationship as Bryant lost his life in a tragic accident.

Kobe Bryant

Shaquille O’Neal

Garima Ranawat

Garima is a sports writer with around two years of experience in Indian sports and a newfound interest in the NBA. Inspired by the leadership of cricketing legend MS Dhoni, she wishes to bring in newer perspectives to the NBA fanatics with her writing.