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“Big Mistake in the Kobe Bryant Relationship”: Shaquille O’Neal Gets Brutally Honest Over His Regrets in Life

Published 04/20/2022, 8:00 AM EDT

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Shaquille O’Neal, the former Los Angeles Lakers, and Miami Heat Center is one of the most important figures in basketball. Along with being an all-time great and one of the most dominant player of his generation, Shaq is also known for being an outstanding TV host and an entrepreneur. Yet, he has made his fair share of mistakes professionally and personally. Perhaps the biggest mistake he made was not fixing his relationship with Kobe Bryant, and he regrets that to this day.

Shaq discussed this on a visit to The Pivot Podcast as he opened up about his mistakes in his life. He said he regrets only three things in his life. He said he made a big mistake in both marriages. Additionally, Shaq also admitted he was wrong not to fix his relationship with Penny Hardaway. Unfortunately, he also had one more regret.

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Shaquille O’Neal regrets not fixing his relationship with Kobe Bryant sooner

Despite all the success Kobe and Shaq had, their relationship was not that great. On several occasions, they nearly came to blows with each other. But a few years later, after Shaq left, the duo reconnected and made peace with each other. But Shaq still regrets that he didn’t fix his relationship sooner. He adds, “Big mistake in the Kobe relationship, I was arrogant, I was dumb, but sometimes when you do a lot of stuff you don’t wanna work at stuff. Those the only three major regrets that I have,”

 

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Shaq spent the first four seasons of his career with the Orlando Magic before he hit free agency. Eventually, he signed with the Lakers and he and Kobe became the NBA’s newest dynamic duo. They won three championships together, and it looked like nobody could stop them.

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And then the relationship between the two stars imploded, which caused the Lakers to trade Shaq to the Miami Heat. The duo would still take shots at each other over the years and their relationship was fiery. But they reconciled in the later part of Shaq’s career and even held several public conversations with each other.

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Shaq was devastated when Kobe tragically passed away and he still regrets that he didn’t tell Kobe things that he had to say. Nobody is perfect, even the superstars, but it is still nice to see Shaq own up to his mistakes and try to move forward.

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Written by:

Vishwesha Kumar

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Vishwesha Kumar is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Holder of a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Vishwesha has been writing content for about 3 years now. He has been following the NBA for nearly 10 years, since first starting off in the year 2012.
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Edited by:

Ajinkya Aswale