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Shaquille O'Neal Threatened To Murder Kobe Bryant During 2004 Season
The 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers are the subject of a fascinating oral history over at Bleacher Report, and you should definitely check the whole thing out.
That legendary squad, a super-team in every sense, reached the NBA Finals but flamed out in spectacular fashion.
But they were entertaining as hell, on and off the court.
The Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant feud reached its tipping point that season, after Bryant publicly called out Shaq for being lazy and out of shape.
According to John Black, Lakers vice president of public relations, O’Neal threatened to end Kobe’s life. Whoa:
After the Lakers’ bid to win four consecutive championships fell short with a second-round loss to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in 2003, the franchise appeared to solidify its chance of claiming another trophy when future Hall of Famers Gary Payton and Karl Malone elected to sign free-agent contracts far below their market value that summer in order to win the one honor that had eluded them—a title. [...] Their signings came less than two weeks after Lakers superstar guard Kobe Bryant was charged with the sexual assault of a Colorado hotel employee and faced the possibility of life in prison if found guilty.
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