There are few who will argue that the duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal on the Los Angeles Lakers is the greatest pairing in NBA history. Both are among the true all-time greats the league has ever seen and no one has won three straight NBA Championships since they did back in the early-2000s.
Shaq is widely considered the most dominant force in NBA history, but Kobe’s place in GOAT conversations has always varied. Many of his peers place him at or near the top of the list alongside Michael Jordan and LeBron James, but many other analysts and media members have him much lower, sometimes even outside of the top 10 which doesn’t sit well with O’Neal.
Shaq has been outspoken about his belief that Bryant belongs in GOAT conversations alongside Jordan and James and in a recent appearance on the Straight Game Podcast, the Lakers legend again mentioned his frustration at Kobe’s exclusion in those discussions:
“I just get frustrated when people talk about the GOATs of the game and his name is not mentioned. Like I don’t care who you pick whether it’s Michael or LeBron or Kobe, but just mention all the names. That’s all, just mention all the names. It’s just like they surpassed him up and went from Mike to LeBron and they left him out. So I would like to hear all the recipients and then let the people pick.”
Following this statement, podcast host and former NBA player Eddie House brought up the fact that many call Bryant a carbon copy of Jordan so it makes no sense that the Lakers icon wouldn’t be right there with him in those discussions, and Shaq agreed with that assessment:
“Again as an individual, we got 80 billion people on this planet everybody’s not gonna have the same opinion. I don’t care who you say. Don’t matter to me. But I would like to hear all the fair arguments. That’s a great point. He’s a carbon copy of Mike, Mike’s the greatest so it has to be him. But LeBron has done some things too.”
Shaq has been consistent in this belief for years now. While he has never come out and said Kobe is unequivocally the greatest player ever, he has always made it clear that he at least belongs in the conversation and there is nothing that will change that in his mind.
Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal trolls Mike Bibby
Along with Eddie House, the co-host of the Straight Game Podcast is Mike Bibby who famously had some intense playoff battles with the Lakers, particularly in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. And Shaquille O’Neal poked some fun at Bibby during his appearance by saying that beating the Sacramento Kings was the best moment of his career.
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