Only in looking back can Kobe Bryant truly appreciate the impact Shaquille O’Neal had on his career. In basketball history it is impossible to mention one without the other.
“When you win three titles together and you’ve had so much impact on one another’s legacy as a player and as a champion,” Bryant said by phone this week, “there is absolutely no way in the world I would miss an opportunity to talk about him and thank him and to acknowledge everything that he’s done for not only this organization and the city, but for me personally.