Shaquille O’ Neal and the late NBA star Kobe Bryant shared an infamous beef. However, Shaq and Kobe famously reconciled their dispute later on in their lives. They both donned the Los Angeles Lakers jersey together for eight years. It was a partnership that resulted in three titles out of four trips to the NBA Finals. Shaq eventually decided to part ways with Lakers.
Shaquille O’Neal was recently asked about what he might have been if he had Kobe Bryant’s work ethic, and he had a simple but smart response to the question during an interview.
Shaquille O’ Neal responds
Kobe Bryant’s tragic demise took a toll on Shaquille O’Neal and he still admittedly struggles with it. While Kobe’s passing changed some things, they spoke about one another candidly a fair few times in interviews. It’s no secret that Kobe Bryant thought Shaquille O’Neal should have been working harder. Kobe’s work ethic inspired a whole generation of stars but Shaq operated differently. And when he was asked about what Shaq could have been with his work ethic, the Mamba didn’t hold back.
“He’d be the greatest of all time. He’d be the first to tell you that. This guy was a force like I had never seen. It was crazy. Guy that size, generally guys that size are a little timid. They don’t wanna be tall, they don’t wanna be big. He did not care. He was mean, he was nasty, he was competitive, he was vindictive. I wish he was in the gym, I would have had f***ing 12 rings.”
Kobe Bryant was younger and hungrier than Shaquille O’Neal, so there were a fair few differences between the two. Asked the same thing about work ethic, Shaq candidly answered during an interview.
“I would’ve been Shaq. Kobe was a beast, nobody works harder than him. But I think you can find success in many ways. You know for me I had to; 8 hours of work, 8 hours of business, 8 hours of family. See Kobe was just getting married and getting into his family, I’m already 4 kids in.
“So after I put in my 2-3 hours of work, now I have to be Daddy, now I have to be husband, now I have to take care of business. And mentally I’m so strong I don’t need to workout for these bums anyway, that’s what I’m thinking. So I think it would’ve been a better question if we had no championships, no MVPs and I would’ve been an absolute failure. But the resume you just read, that was a hell of a resume, sir.”
