Kobe Bryant joined former teammate/rival Shaquille O’Neal on The Big Podcast with Shaq, and it was everything you could ever expect.
So long as you were expecting a ton of cliches that only supported the notion that these two, once serial head-butters with the Los Angeles Lakers, are now cool.
One of the anecdotes, however, did stand out. Host John Kincade asked Shaq and Kobe about a purported phone call that took place before Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, when the Lakers were playing the Sacramento Kings. Not only did Shaq and Kobe admit to the phone call, albeit without mentioning anything truly revealing, but it turns out that, as teammates, they used to chitchat whenever, wherever all the time:
Kincade: I was hearing a story, Kobe and Shaq, about the 2002 and Western Conference Finals, before Game 7 with Sacramento, that there was a phone call—and I actually read newspaper accounts that this was out there—that Shaq called Kobe at three in the morning, because neither one of you could sleep before Game 7. First of all, is that a true story that’s out there? And if there was a 3 a.m. phone call before Game 7, can you guys tell us what you talked about?
Kobe: That is true. Shaq used to be up all the time. We used to do that all the time. We used to hit each other up at random hours, because we understood that we were the engine that was driving the team. So we had to make sure that we were connected at that level to push everybody else.
Kincade: But what was said? . . .
Shaq: I’m gonna tell you what was said. I’m gonna tell you what was said. I said ‘Kobe, you ready?’ He’d be like ‘Hell yeah [I’m ready]. You ready to hit them free throws?’ And I’d be like ‘Yeah, I’m a be ready.’
[The phone calls were] just joking, having fun. That’s all. Just checking in with each other.
Kobe: Shaq used to come up and tell me…he used to be like, ‘All right Kobe, this series we’ll take turns. You get ‘em this series, I’ll get ‘em the next series, you get ‘em the next [series].’ We used to do that type of stuff. He used to be like ‘Kobe, go get’ em, go kill ‘em this series.’ And I would say ‘Shaq, this is on you now. You got it now.’ We used to literally alternate who dominates what series.
Both Shaq and Kobe admit to having issues with the other, so it’s pretty incredible that they were able to communicate on such a higher and frequent level. Then again, they won three championships together. They had to coexist for almost a decade, and because they wore the same jersey and were competing for the same thing, an indelible sense of camaraderie, however faint, existed by default.
Did it show through in time to salvage this marriage or for them to win more than three titles? Absolutely not. But it was there.
And now, with Shaq’s playing career in his rear view and Kobe preparing for his 20th go-round, it seems to be there more than ever.
