Shaq And Kobe Looked Like Best Friends At The Diesel’s Statue Ceremony

There was a time where the best individual rivalry in sports was between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Well, it may not have been the best, but it was certainly the most heated.

It started when the two were teammates with the Lakers and continued after Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat. The feud has a Wikipedia page dedicated to it, and said page has nearly 150 citations. Just within the last year, we learned that Shaq felt like Kobe pushed him off the team and that Kobe hurt the Lakers in free agency back in the day because he told police that Shaq had extramarital affairs.

Basically, the fact that the two of them are cool now is kind of amazing to anyone who followed the saga of Shaq and Kobe. Shaq has called Kobe the best Laker ever, while Bean said that if he could re-do his career, he would make things work with the big man.

On Friday, the two got another opportunity to prove that their beef is in the past. The Lakers unveiled Shaq’s statue outside of Staples Center before the team’s game against Minnesota, and during the ceremony, the two legends goofed around while they sat next to one another.

Additionally, the final person Shaq thanked during his speech was Kobe.

“Brother, I thank you,” Shaq told the future Hall of Famer. “We pushed each other, we had our battles, we had our times, but we always had respect for each other and we were able to win three championships. Definitely couldn’t have done it without you.”

Imagine going back in time a decade and telling yourself that this would happen at Shaq’s statue ceremony. I guess time does heal all wounds.