Shaquille O’Neal could barely hold back tears as he talked about how ‘sharp’ the pain was when he found out that Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died in a tragic helicopter crash with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others.
Speaking in the Staples Center on Tuesday during a TNT tribute for Bryant, Shaq shared that he had been working out with his son and nephew in his basement Sunday when another nephew came and told him of the news.
‘I snapped at him and said “man get that out my face,”‘ the 47-year-old said in the brief clip as tears streamed down his face.
Shaq added that he struggled believing the news until he started receiving calls, confirming that Bryant had died in the Calabasas crash.
Speaking in the Staples Center on Tuesday during a TNT tribute for Bryant, an emotional Shaq shared that he had been working out with family when he learned the news
‘I haven’t felt a pain that sharp in a while,’ O’Neal said.
Shaq shared that Bryant’s sudden death refreshed recent feelings the business mogul had been dealing with as he had just lost his sister Ayesha to cancer in October.
He continued: ‘Lost two grandmothers, lost a Father, lost my sister… and now I lost a little brother.’
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were a dominating force in basketball during the early 2000s, winning three championship titles from 2000-2002. Bryant won two more championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010 while O’Neal would win his fourth title while playing with the Miami Heat.
Shaq shared that Bryant’s sudden death refresh recent feelings the business mogul had been dealing with as he had just lost his sister Ayesha to cancer in October
‘Our names will be attached together for what we did,’ O’Neal stated
‘Our names will be attached together for what we did,’ O’Neal stated.
While O’Neal shared that he had been nervous over initial reports falsely claiming that Rick Fox may have been in the crash, he was devastated learning that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also on the aircraft.
O’Neal stressed that he would be making sure to contact his loved ones more, acknowledging that he spent a lot of time doing work.
‘I don’t talk to you guys as much as I need to,’ he said. ‘The fact that we won’t get to joke around at his Hall of Fame ceremony.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were a dominating force in basketball during the early 2000s, winning three championship titles from 2000-2002
While O’Neal shared that he had been nervous over initial reports falsely claiming that Rick Fox may have been in the crash, he was devastated learning that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also on the aircraft
He later added: ‘If we would have stayed together we could have got 10. Those are the things we can’t get back.’
O’Neal did briefly touch on the message Bryant sent his son, Shareef, as a means to show how close their two families are.
Shareef O’Neal posted his last communication with Kobe Bryant, a DM he sent him early Sunday.
O’Neal thought about how he wouldn’t be able to make jokes with Bryant at the star’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony
‘Literally this morning you reached out to me …. I love you forever unc❤ I love you,’ Shareef, 20, wrote Sunday.
The son of Shaquille O’Neal captioned the emotional post, ‘Literally this morning you reached out to me …. I love you forever unc I love you.’
In the back-and-forth, Bryant asked Shareef, ‘You good fam?’ to which the O’Neal responded, ‘Yeah! Just been getting this work in, trying to figure out my next move. How you been?’
Moving: The athlete son of Shaquille O’Neal captioned the emotional post, ‘Literally this morning you reached out to me …. I love you forever unc I love you’
Bryant sent the message at 8:19 a.m., less than two hours before officials said that the helicopter containing the NBA legend and eight others went down in Calabasas, California.
Kobe’s former teammate Shaquille wrote Sunday, ‘There’s no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed’.
The legendary NBA center continued: ‘My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW.’
‘There’s no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed,’ Shaquille O’Neal tweeted