There might be one person more excited about Kobe training Shaq's kid than Shaq's kid ... Rick Fox ... who says the Mamba Obi-Wanning Diesel's offspring truly "warms his heart."
We broke the story ... Kobe has offered to personally mentor Shareef O'Neal -- a high school superstar who's already received scholarship offers from some pretty huge schools. Shareef told us he's pumped about it.
And so is Rick ... who was a part of those legendary Lakers teams with Shaq and Kobe, and knows firsthand how bad things got between the two of them.