Kobe Bryant Confessed What He “Saw in His Nightmares” About Shaquille O’Neal

Published 02/22/2022, 11:07 PM EST

The relationship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal has been that of a rollercoaster. The two stars first won three championships together, but at the same time, their relationship took a serious hit in the process. It came to a point where Shaq had to be traded from the Lakers.

After that, they did feud for a few more years, but they reconnected in the latter part of their careers. They did end up ending their feud after several years and they embraced each other as brothers. Kobe was there for the statue unveiling of Shaq and his hall of fame induction ceremony. When Kobe tragically passed away, Shaq gave a touching tribute to the Black Mamba.

Even after they reconnected over the years, they still used to take hilarious digs at each other. One such instance was when Kobe Bryant was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

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I see Shaq’s lip-sync battles in my nightmares, says Kobe Bryant

Back in 2017, Kobe appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. At the same time, Sports Illustrated Kids reporter Max Bonnstetter was invited to the show to ask a few questions to Kobe. His first question was asking about having a giant paycheck at a young age. Kobe said it was great and pretty cool to have that much money, but he says he didn’t buy anything and put it in the bank.

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Kobe was then asked who was the defender he least wanted to go up against and who gave him nightmares. To this, he replied, “Well, Tony Allen is the toughest defender I ever had to go against. He was absolutely tenacious.”

Kobe added, “You know who I see in my nightmares? I see Shaquille O’Neal’s lip-sync battles… That’s what I see in my nightmares… That’s scary… I mean Him Shuffling Around Like That, That’ll Scare Anyone, you know, so”

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This was a hilarious dig at The Big Diesel, and it didn’t mean any harm. The duo had reached a point in their relationship where they knew what lines to cross and what to not. At one point, the two wanted to fight each other while being on the same team, but they buried that hatchet as they grew older.

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Written by:

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.

Kobe Bryant Confessed What He “Saw in His Nightmares” About Shaquille O’Neal

I see Shaq’s lip-sync battles in my nightmares, says Kobe Bryant

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