Former Los Angeles Lakers teammates and one-time bitter rivals Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant have buried the hatchet in an online podcast released on Monday where both men addressed their long-running feud.
O’Neal and Bryant’s tense relationship was a staple of NBA debate for years during the Lakers’ successful period of dominance in the early 2000s, when the team won three championships and lost a fourth. O’Neal eventually moved to the Miami Heat in 2004, while Bryant remained at the Lakers, where he continues to play as his career draws to a close.
In a lengthy discussion on O’Neal’s “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” both men expressed regret at the way their bickering often spilled into public view.
“I just want people to know that I don’t hate you, I know you don’t hate me,” O’Neal, 43, told Bryant on the podcast. “I call it today a ‘work beef,’ is what we had. I was young, you was young, but then as I look at it, we won three [championships] out of four so I don’t really think a lot was done wrong.”
“We had a lot of disagreements, we had a lot of arguments, but I think it fueled us both,” O’Neal said.
Meanwhile, Bryant, 37, said he wished the frequent rows with O’Neal could have been kept private.
“To me, the most important thing is you keep your mouth shut. There’s no need to go to the press. You keep it internal,” Bryant said.
“Having our debates within the press was something I wished would been avoided,” Bryant added.
Bryant also recalled an exchange where he almost came to blows as a 21-year-old with the older, bigger O’Neal.
“And I realized that I probably had a couple of screws loose, because I nearly got into a fistfight and I actually was willing to get into a fight with this man,” Bryant said.
“I went home and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve either got to be the dumbest or the most courageous kid on the face of the Earth,’” Bryant added.
O’Neal said he had actually been left impressed by Bryant’s nerve in standing up to him.
“That just showed me ‘You know what, this kid ain’t going to back down to nobody,’” O’Neal said.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS