Kobe Bryant’s former teammate and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal brought laughter to a tear-filled memorial at Staples Center Monday, telling stories of their time together with the Los Angeles Lakers.
O’Neal said that though their relationship was complicated, he and Bryant always deeply respected each other.
“We fought and we bantered back and forth with offhanded remarks, but make no mistakes, and you folks thought we were on bad terms, and when the cameras were turned off we would wink at each other and said, ‘let’s go whip some ass.'”
The basketball star recalled a day when Bryant wasn’t passing the ball and he told the team he would speak with him.
O’Neal said he told him that “there’s no ‘I’ in team,” and Kobe responded: “Yeah, but there’s a ‘M-E,’” followed by an expletive.
The crowd roared with laughter.
O’Neal said that was the day Kobe “gained my respect” and that he went back to his teammates and said, “just get the rebound, he’s not passing.”
The moment filled the arena with smiles as those who came to mourn the basketball legend packed Staples Center for the public memorial honoring Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others killed in a helicopter crash last month.
O’Neal and Bryant both joined the Lakers in 1996 and won three consecutive championships.
“Kobe and I pushed each other to play some of the greatest basketball of all time,” O’Neal said. “I’m proud nobody has accomplished what the threepeat Lakers have done since the Shaq and Kobe Lakers did it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
