Summary Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have buried the hatchet in an online podcast released on Monday.
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Former Los Angeles Lakers team-mates 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."
Bryant, 37, meanwhile 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 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. "
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.
