10 Things We Learned From Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's Podcast

It's been more than a decade now since Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant played together on the Lakers, and yet, people still talk about their time together as teammates. They were, without a doubt, one of the best duos in NBA history. But it's hard not to think about what they might have been able to accomplish if not for their perceived differences off the court. They both went on to enjoy success after playing together in Los Angeles, but what if they had stayed on the same team for their entire careers? How many more titles would they have gone on to win? And how would the perception of each of them be different right now?

We'll never know the answers to those questions. But last week, Shaq and Kobe sat down for an interview on The Big Podcast With Shaq to discuss all the rumors that have swirled around them for the last 15 years or so. That podcast, which also features Shaq's co-host John Kincade, was finally posted this morning (you can find it here). And while listening to it, we discovered a few new things about their rocky relationship (sadly, there was no mention of this). Here are the 10 Things We Learned From Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's Podcast.

Shaq doesn't hate Kobe.

Before Kobe even joined The Big Podcast to talk with him, Shaq made one thing perfectly clear: He does not hate his former teammate. In fact, he says that he still runs into Kobe and his wife Vanessa from time and time and refers to himself as "Uncle Shaq" when speaking with Kobe's kids.

"People think it's a full-blown hatred," Shaq said on the podcast. "It's never gotten to that. That's what people don't understand…I've said this many times. If I see him with his lovely wife and his kids, it's, 'Hey, Kobe, what's up? Hi, little babies, I'm Uncle Shaq. Hi, Vanessa, how you doing?'…The people who don't really know what went on, they think it's a full blown 'If we see each other, we're going to fight.' This right here was a workplace beef."

Shaq then addressed Kobe directly when he joined the podcast and told him that he doesn't harbor any ill will towards him.

"Right now is the time to clear the air," he said. "I have said many times that we were the most enigmatic, controversial, most talked about, dominant one-two punch. I just want people to know that I don't hate you."

Kobe doesn't think his beef with Shaq was bad for the Lakers.

While it's obviously never a good thing when two teammates—especially two superstar teammates—are at odds, Kobe said that he thinks the way he and Shaq went about their business is one of the reasons the Lakers won so many titles when they were together.

"What we did, our disagreements, what made those things special is we said them to each other's face," he said. "We didn't go behind each other's back and whisper to our teammates about this, that, and the other. That could do nothing but create friction and it's cancerous to the team. When you get things out right in front of each other, you say what you're thinking, you have those disagreements, you agree to disagree, you move on, all of a sudden, the integrity of the team is preserved…I think that's what catapulted us, especially to our second championship."

Kobe wasn't afraid to fistfight with Shaq.

The idea of Kobe trying to fight Shaq seems pretty laughable, but Kobe has never been one to back down from a challenge. So back in 1999, they got into the first of many fights with Kobe going toe-to-toe with one of the biggest players in NBA history.

"In '99, two things happened," he said, "I think Shaq realized that this kid is really competitive and he's a little crazy. And then, I realized that I probably had a couple screws loose because we got into a fistfight and I actually was willing to get into a fistfight with this man. I went home and I was like, 'I got to be the dumbest or the most courageous kid on the face of the earth.'"

Shaq said that he respected Kobe more for standing up to him—"That just showed me that this kid ain't gonna back down," he said, after noting that they got into fights "all the time"—and the way Kobe saw things, there was no downside to him trying to fight Shaq.

"He was either going to beat the shit out of me or I was gonna get a couple good ones in," he said. "And I was comfortable with either one."

Shaq really did threaten to kill Kobe.

The "Shaq threatened to kill Kobe" rumor has been reported in the past. But during the podcast, Kobe confirmed it and said that he remembers the day it happened.

"Of course I remember that day!" he said. "I was like, 'Alright, come on then!' If you could see this shit, you would be like, 'OK, Shaq is going to kill this fucking kid. This kid is crazier than bat shit.'"

Shaq and Kobe both think they missed an opportunity to be the best duo in NBA history...

When they were asked if they think they could have done bigger and better things together, both players were quick to say that they definitely could have. They believe they missed the chance to go down in history together.

"We did," Shaq said. "It was two Alpha males and then, the business aspect kicked in…I was getting older. Management is like, 'Hey, you're getting older. We know you want this, but we want to give you that.' In my mind, I was like, 'I'm not getting older.' They wanted to move in a different direction."

…but Kobe doesn't think there's any way he could have spent his entire career playing with Shaq.

While Shaq and Kobe seem to agree that they missed the chance to do something even more special as a duo, Kobe pointed out why it wasn't possible.

"How many years would Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain be playing together with Wilt in his prime and Michael wanting to come up?" he said. "How long is that going to last before Michael says, 'You know what? It's time for me to show…?' That's why he and I are one of a kind when it comes to tandems. You literally had two Alpha males playing together on one team, and that normally does not happen."

Shaq hated watching Kobe win two more titles with the Lakers without him.

Even though Shaq won a ring with the Heat after leaving the Lakers, he hated watching Kobe win his fourth and fifth rings in Los Angeles without him. Specifically, he hated watching him win the fifth one because Kobe called him out after he did it.

"I was pissed," he said. "I got four first, so I threw a little jab. He had a couple years. Then, they somehow got Pau Gasol and [Andrew] Bynum and they got four. I was like, 'OK, we're tied. I'm cool for awhile.' Then he gets number five and a reporter says, 'You feel good that you got one more than Shaq?' Kobe's like, 'Yeah, I got one more than Shaq.' I'm like, 'Aw, shit! They got me.'"

Kobe didn't mind watching Shaq win a title in Miami without him.

While Shaq was pissed to see Kobe win rings without him, Kobe claims that he didn't get mad when Shaq won a ring after he left Los Angeles. He said that it served as extra motivation for him.

"I knew it was going to push me more," he said. "I always wanted to get where Magic was, to where Michael was, so four wasn't something that was on my radar. It pushed me even more. It drove me even more. So when I got five [rings], I couldn't help but turn the knife a little bit."

Shaq and Kobe agree that the 2001 Lakers team that they played on was the best one.

Although you could make arguments for other Shaq and Kobe-led Lakers teams, they both feel that the '01 team was the best of the bunch. That team went 15-1 in the NBA Playoffs en route to a title.

"The 2001 team was lights out," Kobe said.

"We got the NBA record, 15-1," Shaq added. "We should have been 16-0, but your man Iverson hit us for 55…I guarantee that record won't be broken for another 30 years. No one will ever get to 15-1 again for the next 30 years."

Kobe doesn't care what people think about his relationship with Shaq.

The entire point of the Shaq and Kobe podcast was to shed light on the fact that they don't have beef anymore. Shaq reiterated it over and over and over again. But at one point, Kobe revealed that, while he can appreciate Shaq trying to set the record straight, he doesn't care what people believe about their relationship.

"He keeps telling people it wasn't like that, it wasn't like that," he said. "And my response is: Fuck 'em. I don't care what they think."