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The Los Angeles Lakers perhaps could’ve won six or seven championships with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Shaq was already the undisputed best player in the league, and Kobe was up and coming and ready to take the world by storm as well.
Notably, that partnership came to an early and sudden end when the Lakers traded Shaq to the Miami Heat after a disappointing loss in the NBA Finals.
And with all the speculation about a potential feud between the two stars, added to their strong characters and competitiveness, the trade only fueled those rumors about them not getting along.
Fast forward to today, and Shaq continues to deny that there was ever a feud.
“There was never a feud… the respect has to always be there.” -Shaq on his relationship with Kobe Bryant
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Talking on his podcast, he stated that regardless of how they felt about each other, he knew he was going to look for Kobe as soon as he got doubled and vice versa.
He did admit that they weren’t seeing eye to eye at the time, but denied it was due to a feud or anything like that.
Shaq and Kobe were able to bury the hatchet later in their careers.
They talked it and hugged it out, sometimes in public, sometimes privately.
Even so, it’s crazy to think just how many more championships they could’ve won together if they had been able to work things out with the front office, as Shaq to this day affirms that the only reason he got traded was that he refused to take a pay cut, not his relationship — or lack thereof — with Kobe.
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