Ask Shaquille O’Neal what is the ultimate duo in NBA history. He says Kobe Bryant makes up one-half of it. Suffice to say, the Big Aristotle sees himself as the Black Mamba’s best partner on the court. He’s laid this opinion out enough times and goes the extra mile to emphasize it. This time he went to extraterrestrial lengths to reiterate there’s no other duo more dominant than Shaq & Kobe in the entire universe.

“Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal is the most dominant duo in 2K, on the Internet, off the Internet, outer space, amongst aliens, amongst earthlings,” O’Neal said in one breath. Or as one Instagram user summarized, “Basically EVERYWHERE Is What #Shaq Saying!!!”

The partnership that began since both arrived in the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996 saw its fair amount of friction. But they were undoubtedly dominant on the court, winning a three-peat from 2000 to 2002. They’re an unmatchable pair, as Shaq put it, “The most dominant one-two punch ever created.”

The franchise has a long history of awe-inspiring duos as striking as the signature Purple & Gold. Hoping to recreate the combination of Magic Johnson and James Worthy again, Jerry West moved pawns to acquire Shaq, then a free agent after a dominant tenure at Orlando Magic. He picked a teenage Kobe Bryant from the 1996 NBA draft.

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It took this duo a while to break the Chicago Bulls’ dominance. But with Michael Jordan out, the duo got their breakthrough in 2000. Shaq not only got his first three rings with Kobe, he won MVP titles too. Lakers remain the last team to have three-peated and that’s owed to the Shaq-Kobe combination.

Shaquille O’Neal always hypes his best partner

From Penny Hardaway to Dwyane Wade, O’Neal has been one half of a few formidable superteams. None though was more fearsome and unguardable as prime Shaq with the originator of the Mamba Mentality. O’Neal also believes it so much he joined Meek Mill and Rick Ross, along with Damian Lillard to rap about it on the “Shaq & Kobe” remix.

These days, the TNT analyst is hyped for the Dame-Giannis combination leading the Bucks. He’s gone as far as to call them the Shaq & Kobe of this season by sharing an Instagram post that’s going around.

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Shaq’s not changing his opinion anytime soon. Unless some Martians land to challenge him.

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