{"id":1519070,"date":"2022-07-07T16:12:07","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T20:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1519070"},"modified":"2022-07-07T16:12:08","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T20:12:08","slug":"shaquille-oneal-kobe-bryant-almost-came-to-blows-2003-3-nba-legends-serve-potential-muscle-should-it-come-to-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/shaquille-oneal-kobe-bryant-almost-came-to-blows-2003-3-nba-legends-serve-potential-muscle-should-it-come-to-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant Almost Came to Blows in 2003, and 3 NBA Legends Had ‘To Serve as Potential Muscle, Should It Come to That'"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\u00a0Shaquille O'Neal<\/a>\u00a0vs.\u00a0Kobe Bryant<\/a>\u00a0feud on the\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>\u00a0is well-documented. While the team was winning back-to-back-to-back NBA championships in the early 2000s, the two superstars didn't get along. What you may not know, though, is that one day in the 2004 preseason, things got so bad that Karl Malone, Horace Grant, and Gary Payton had “to serve as potential muscle” in case Shaq and Kobe came to blows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pinnacle of the Shaq vs. Kobe feud came in 2003<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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(L-R) Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant | Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant teamed up in the late 1990s and became the most devastating duo in basketball history. Despite an NBA championship run lasting three seasons, from 1999-2002, the two superstars never truly got along off the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 1996, the LA Lakers\u00a0signed 24-year-old Orlando Magic superstar<\/a>\u00a0Shaquille O'Neal to a seven-year, $120 million free-agent contract. The franchise also traded incumbent center Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for the rights to the No. 13 pick in the 1996 NBA draft, Lower Marion (PA) High School's Kobe Bryant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaq was the larger-than-life superstar who loved making commercials, filming movies, and recording rap albums as much as playing basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kobe was the precocious teenager who seemingly only cared about one thing: Becoming the greatest basketball player of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the court, they dominated. Off the court, they clashed. Things between the two were never great, but the relationship took a turn for the worse in 2003. That's when Bryant faced\u00a0sexual assault charges in Eagle, Colorado<\/a>. And he reportedly dragged O'Neal's name into the case when talking to the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the 2003 offseason, LA was a season removed from its three-peat, and the Kobe\/Shaq relationship was broken beyond repair. As longtime NBA insider Jackie MacMullan shared on her\u00a0Icons Club podcast<\/em><\/a>, Shaq and Kobe spent that summer going to “their favorite writers in the LA press and sniped about each other.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the eve of the season, Kobe gave an explosive interview criticizing Shaq to Jim Gray, and things got worse from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant almost came to blows in 2003, and 3 NBA legends were there to step in<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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"At times, I thought, \u2018Why am I giving away all this information that he\u2019s going to use right against me?\u2019" Michael Jordan couldn\u2019t help but share his secrets with a young Kobe Bryant.

Just one part of a packed \u2018Icons Club\u2019 Episode 7. https:\/\/t.co\/vGYI1SCA2i<\/a><\/p>— The Ringer (@ringer) April 8, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>