How Shaquille O'Neal's mother resolved his beef with Kobe Bryant

The Los Angeles Lakers during the Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant era was a force to be reckoned with. Under the coaching of Phil Jackson, the Lakers won three consecutive NBA titles.

However, to this date, many believe that the Kobe-Shaq Lakers didn't achieve what they were capable of. A key reason behind that is the ego-clashes between the two superstars.

At the time, Bryant was still a young star, but O'Neal was already an established name in the league. Evidently, each star wanted to be the alpha on the team.

The clash ultimately led to the Lakers deciding to keep Bryant around since he was younger as they traded Shaq to the Miami Heat in 2004.

But before breaking up, the two stars figured out a way to find a temporary truce. It was none other than O'Neal's mother who instigated that.

"I have caught him up in some instances where I said, ‘That’s enough’…When he and Kobe were not getting along and I told him, stop going through all of that on television. Y’all have to learn how to get along. It helped their relationship when I said it’s time to let that go."

For what it's worth, if it weren't for O'Neal's mother, the Lakers may not have won those three titles. But at the end of the day, the advice couldn't completely diminish the beef between the two superstars.

Years later, Shaq and Kobe buried the hatchet as they resolved their differences after retiring from the NBA. Although Bryant is no longer in this world, O'Neal still respects his former Lakers teammate's achievements throughout his career.

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