Shaq played with both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James during his career and says he would choose his former Laker pal over his one-time Cavs teammate, though he has a little more bias towards his longtime former Laker teammate.
Appearing on “The Dan Patrick Show” Monday to promote his new podcast, Shaq was asked by DP to choose between LeBron James and Michael Jordan. The question was asked because Bill Laimbeer recently said he’d take LeBron over MJ. Shaq wasn’t feeling that and took His Airness. Next DP asked Shaq to choose between Kobe and LeBron.
Somewhat surprisingly, Shaq took Kobe, though he did note that that wasn’t a “knock against LeBron.”
“Kobe has that killer instinct and I would probably have to go with Kobe,” Shaq told Patrick. “That’s not a knock against LeBron. But I know Kobe and played with him longer and seen what he can do. Yes he does have (that killer instinct). A lot of people try to compare [LeBron] to Michael (Jordan) when he’s more like Magic (Johnson). When he needs to take over a game, he will. He’s really really smart. He’s very intelligent and lets the game to come him and he relies on others.”
That’s saying a lot coming from Shaq given how much beef he’s had with Kobe over the years.
Allegations of Shaq threatening to murder Kobe came up last week, and the Big Fella downplayed that and said the issues between the two weren’t that bad. He also said it was his plan to retire as a Laker, but the team chose Kobe over him and traded him to the Heat, where he won another title.
Just to confirm that Shaq does not have anything against LeBron, note that he said he thought James has exceeded expectations since entering the league. Shaq noted that LeBron has “never been into trouble. Always been a great player. Always made guys around him better.”
