Over the years, the Los Angeles Lakers have been home to some of the greatest basketball players of all time. The late 1990s and early 2000s were special times for the organization, as they had the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal on the roster.
The highly talented duo helped the Purple and Gold complete a three-peat under the legendary Phil Jackson’s coaching. While the Kobe-Shaq duo was as dominant as it came, they had their fair share of issues.
Despite that, Bryant and O’Neal found ways to motivate each other to present their best performances on the court. Knowing Kobe’s insane drive to be better than his opponents, the Diesel used it cleverly from time to time.
Shaq used LeBron to make Kobe mad
For 20 years, the Mamba remained one of the top dogs in the league. It’s impossible for an athlete to dominate the NBA for two decades without keeping himself motivated. Speaking of which, an easy way to make Bryant lock-in was to make him mad, per Shaq.
In a September 2024 episode of The OGs podcast, the Big Aristotle discussed how he used LeBron James’ name to bring out the best in Bryant.