One of the biggest decisions in NBA history was when Shaquille O’Neal decided to sign with the Lakers. After signing a seven-year contract for $121 million and leaving Orlando Magic, people concluded it was for monetary reasons. “I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok,” Shaq said. Lakers that year drafted a rookie Kobe Bryant and O’Neal claims to have helped him with his Mamba mentality.

Draymond Green asked Shaq to rate the 3 players he played during his prime. Dwyane Wade, Penny Hardaway, and Kobe Bryant. Even though at the beginning he was hesitant to rate the players because of online discourse and criticism from people, the former Lakers legend put Kobe as his number 1 for his “master killer mentality”.

“Kobe #1, he had the master killer mentality and I like to say I helped him get that,” Shaq said on The Draymond Green Show. Shaq revealed the success of the duo of Shaq and Bryant. He implied that he would doubt Bryant about his ability and that would make Bryant angry. The Lakers #24 even practiced 5 to 6 hours in the gym to prove a point to Shaq. “He (Kobe) did that just so he could shut me the f*ck up.”

O’Neal said he loved to piss Kobe off so he could play better. In his mind, Shaq knew that he could score points but needed someone else to step up as well. “I already knew what I was going to do give you 28, 10 in the playoffs 35 whatever but I needed another guy. ” And the guy delivered by helping to win the championship in 2000.

Kobe Bryant and Shaq the ultimate duo

Shaq said his favorite game was winning the championship against Indiana. Kobe Bryant had missed half of game 2 and game 3 entirely due to an ankle injury. In Game 4, Bryant scored 22 points in the second half, leading the team to an OT victory. But O’Neal remembers the moment when he thought the Lakers had lost the match due to him.

Shaq fouled out in the game and looked at Bryant in a sorry state. He expected Bryant to say “Shaq you motherf***er you want to be a rapper, you doing movies and you ain’t concentrating on your free throws.” O’Neal admitted on the podcast that his shooting percentage wasn’t great. He was even ready to accept the blame for the series loss. But when he looked at Bryant, it was a totally opposite reaction from ‘Black Mamba’.

“I am looking at Kobe, motherf***er do me like that (calm down hand gesture),” which Shaq had not considered. Later, Bryant scored the winning shot to put the Lakers ahead 120–118. The duo dominated and ended up winning the championship thrice in 3 years.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.