The Mamba shares a rare story before Lakeshow dynasty of 2000
In direct follow-up to his inspirational The Interview documentary last week, Kobe Bryant was featured in the latest edition of GQ magazine. The future NBA Hall-of-Famer has finally been opening up on his past internal feuds with Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal during the early 2000s, which unfortunately ended prematurely.
During the conversation with GQ, the Black Mamba gave even more rare insight to one of the greatest teams the league has ever seen, revealing how he almost left the team in 1999. At the time, Kobe didn’t respect Shaq’s work ethic – who was on the downside of his career at the tail end of their championship run.
With Bryant’s career coming to an end next year, he hasn’t held back his tongue with media and cameras – as he he opened up on finally understanding how a player’s body breaks down after a lengthy stint in the league. Take a look at some excerpts from the interview below, and take a look at the video conversation above.
“Yeah. I was like fuck Shaq. I’m out here busting my ass. I’m killing myself.” And it became insulting. Because I chose to extend my deal with the Lakers to play with Shaquille O’ Neal and win championships. I knew what I could have done individually. I could have gone to another team and averaged 35 points a game. I could have gone anywhere and destroyed people. I gave that up to win championships. So it was infuriating to hear people say I was selfish. It was very, very maddening. Shaq was charming. The perception of him was exactly that. Now it’s not.
The city of L.A. knows me now, and they know who I am. But at the time, the perception was that Kobe was trying to break up the team. That was wrong. I am a maniacal worker, and if you’re not working as hard as I am, I am going to let you know about it. That’s why Shaq and I still have a good relationship: He knows I have zero fear of him. I would tell him what he was doing and what he wasn’t doing. And vice versa. There were times when we absolutely could not stand each other. We could not be in the same room together. But we challenged the shit out of each other.”
OS REWIND: Kobe Bryant: The Interview
OS REWIND: Kobe Bryant Shares High School Story About Demolishing A Kid
OS REWIND: Kobe Bryant & Jimmy Fallon Reminisce About a Rare Beer Trip from ‘96
[Source]