The hype surrounding Kobe Bryant’s final game in the NBA came at a great time for the Lakers because it made people, at least temporarily, forget about the drama with D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young and the whole snitching incident between them. It is likely that Young won’t be back next season with the Lakers as they look to Russell to lead them into the future but it brought back memories of two other famous Lakers teammates bickering over a snitching incident of their own. Shaq & Kobe’s relationship soured real bad after Kobe snitched on him to police in Colorado during his interviews regarding the rape charges he was facing at the time.
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In case you forgot, According to Kobe’s police file, while he was being questioned by officers about the alleged sexual assault, Kobe said, “I should have done what Shaq does,” adding, “Shaq gives [mistresses] money or buys them cars, he has already spent one million dollars.” The report added, “Kobe stated that Shaq does this to keep the girls quiet.”
Those comments drove an even bigger wedge between him & Shaq and for years they despised each other because of it, leading Shaq to routinely throw shots at the Mamba, including his freestyle in a club in NYC.
“I’m a horse / Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m gettin’ divorced / He said Shaq gave a bitch a mil / I don’t do that, because my name’s Shaquille,” ending the rhyme by repeating the refrain, “Kobe, how my ass taste?”
Recently Shaq said he would forgive D’Angelo for what he did because he knows the intent wasn’t malicious but he still would have had to beat him down once. So with that said, people wondered if Shaq has ever forgiven Kobe. Seeing as their relationship is pretty cool nowadays, it’s safe to say Shaq has moved past it but hearing him talk about it is interesting.
“There never was a hatchet. I’m not worried about that,” responds Shaq to the Daily Beast. “That’s something that happened and I didn’t think it would’ve gone on, but there was never a hatchet. As a leader, sometimes you gotta do certain things, like, if I owned The Daily Beast and you came back with a bad article and I know your potential, I’d be like, ‘That’s some bullshit,’ and you’d either punk up and quit, or say, ‘Oh, it’s bullshit?’ and write a better piece. It was my job to get everyone to play at a high level. People want things to go perfectly, and if you really look at it, three out of four championships is pretty perfect. I’m glad and honored to be the most enigmatic, controversial, and dynamic one-two punch in Lakers and NBA history.”
He pauses again to ponder the question. “There never was a hatchet,” he adds of Kobe. “It was two guys competing. But one thing you can say about Shaquille O’Neal is he always played the right way. That’s all I wanted to ever do, is play the right way. So I never took anything personally.”
Saying he never took anything personal is a damn lie but he also sees no point in focusing on something that happened years ago. They have both won rings since then and life is good for them.
