Renowned Sports Author Attests To Kobe-Shaq Lakers Feud: 'It Was Real'

The Los Angeles Lakers went through some colorful times, and there is perhaps nothing bigger than the talked-about Shaquille O’ Neal vs. Kobe Bryant feud.

There have been a lot of versions of what really happened between the two NBA stars when they teamed up under the Lakers' banner from 1996 to 2004.

Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson shed some light on that when he came out with a book in 2004 titled “The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul.”

It detailed the troubles between the two players at the time.

However, there was another person who got to write about Jackson and Kobe Bryant--Roland Lazenby, the author of “Mad Game, The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant” and “Mindgames: Phil Jackson's Long Strange Journey.”

In an exclusive interview with Sports For All PH, Filipino journalists Brian Yalung and Vincent Juico had an informative interview with the renowned author, discussing the times he had with Michael Jordan and Bryant.

Yalung threw an interesting question to Lazenby, asking him about the said feud. He started by saying how the late Tex Winters would pick his brain on how to handle the situation.

“It was real. It was understandable. You had Shaq who’s this talented young giant, a very fun-loving guy, immature in a lot of ways who had become the next great savior of LA… dating all the way back to George Mikan. So here comes Shaq, they have this young talented guy. It was immense, you would think that the head-on collision,” Lazenby stated.

Lazenby also detailed how Bryant was not afraid to call his shots when he first entered the NBA.

Considering he was a player who had a shoe contract without playing an NBA minute, the late Lakers star unsurprisingly struck a nerve in the locker room.

“If we were all like Kobe, we would be living on condos in the moon by now. But Kobe was this singular figure. And that was a head-on collision, not only with Phil Jackson but with Shaquille O’Neal. Phil was a man of iron will. Kobe bent his will. That collision dented Kobe’s will. But that was the reality of it,” he bared.

Lazenby added that it also reached a point where Bryant got discouraged, aware that people were trying to bring him down.

The writer then shared what the “Black Mamba” was telling him in 1999 as Los Angeles was being swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

“He told me ‘I don’t know how I’m going to make it. They keep on trying to break me. I don’t know how I am going to make it. I don’t know how I am going to be the greatest but I’m going to get there. I’m not going to let them break me,” Lazenby recalled.

In all, Lazenby believed that something had to give sooner or later.

“That was all true. That was the environment. It couldn’t have happened in any other way. It couldn’t have happened any sooner, probably them winning in Kobe and Shaq’s four seasons together,” he stressed.