If you gonna touch him, you ain’t gonna touch me” – Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s BEEF escalated to them having separate trainers during Lakers tenure

Gilbert Arenas narrates a story about the feud between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant and how they were aligned with separate trainers.

If you gonna touch him, you ain’t gonna touch me” – Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s BEEF escalated to them having separate trainers during Lakers tenure

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal (ABC News)

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were one of the best, if not the best, duos in the entire league during their time playing together for the Los Angeles Lakers. They achieved a remarkable three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2003, dominating the playoffs and solidifying their status as an elite pair.

However, following the 2003 season, the duo’s relationship started to fall out. Kobe’s disappointment with Shaq’s behavior and lack of physical conditioning began to hinder the Lakers’ performance at the highest level. The falling out between the two reached a point where communication ceased and they even had separate training staffs. Despite their exceptional talent, they reached the Finals in 2004, but the Detroit Pistons defeated them. This marked the end of the Kobe-Shaq era, as the Miami Heat subsequently traded Shaq.

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Gilbert Arenas, who was rising in prominence within the league at that time, personally witnessed the rift between the league’s best duo. In a recent episode of his podcast “Gil’s Arena,” he recounted the intense fallout. Arenas revealed that the trainers who worked with Shaq couldn’t work with Kobe, and vice versa.

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He explained, “The trainer who worked on Shaq couldn’t work on Kobe, and Kobe’s trainer and medical staff couldn’t work on Shaq, ’cause that’s the way those two were working. If you go and touch him, you can’t touch me. So that was really how it was divided.

Arenas went on to highlight that once Kobe gained significant influence within the organization and became the Lakers’ franchise player, his first move was to remove Shaq and the trainers associated with him. “So when Kobe felt that he was in power, we saw what his power did. ‘Get rid of him’ [referring to Shaq] and ‘take him with you’ [referring to Shaq’s trainer],” Arenas explained.

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Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s feud caused the Lakers to become dysfunctional as per Kareen Abdul Jabbar

Kareem Abdul Jabbar describes the feud between Shaq and Kobe
Kareem Abdul Jabbar (L- USA Today), Shaq and Kobe (R- Getty)

The Lakers stand as one of the most prominent franchises in the realm of sports. They hold the distinction of being the NBA’s most renowned team, instantly casting any player who joins them into the spotlight. This prominence has been built upon the foundation of the championships they have secured across multiple decades, solidifying their legacies. Their remarkable three-peat from 2000 to 2003 stands as one of the most remarkable stretches in the history of any franchise, with the dominant partnership of Shaq and Kobe reigning over the league.

However, the end 2003 season initiated a series of disputes between the two players, resulting in a lack of mutual understanding. NBA legend and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was part of the Lakers until 1989 and contributed to multiple championship victories, closely observed the emergence of this feud and provided insights into how the Shaq and Kobe conflict led to a dysfunctional phase for the Lakers.

KAJ shared that following the 2003 season, Shaq desired Kobe to pass the ball more to him, but Kobe remained indifferent to Shaq’s perspective on his playing style. Kareem elaborated further, noting that when a franchise’s two primary star players fail to see eye to eye and struggle to establish harmony, the team’s functionality suffers. This dysfunctionality manifests in an absence of team stability, where each game feels akin to two distinct contests.

“Shaq wanted Kobe to pass more and Kobe didn’t care what Shaq thought. When your two most dominant players don’t get along, the team becomes dysfunctional. No one is happy, there’s no team stability, every game feels like a separate battleground rather than part of a flowing season,” Kareem said.

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