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Home > Features > Breaking Down the NBA > Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?

Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?

by Oly Sandor
Aug 24th, 2008
When one is up, the other is down. Of course, we're referring to Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's careers following their 2004 divorce from the L.A. Lakers. After their break-up, O'Neal was clearly on the up in South Beach. Superman' and 'Flash' (Dwyane Wade) won an NBA Title together. Reality shows, sponsors, and the world loved Kazaam's charisma. And fair or not, he was deemed the good guy, enjoying a get-out-of-jail-free-pass when poor conditioning set in ... Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?When one is up, the other is down. Of course, we’re referring to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s careers following their 2004 divorce from the L.A. Lakers.

After their break-up, O’Neal was clearly on the up in South Beach.  Superman’ and ‘Flash’ (Dwyane Wade) won an NBA Title together. Reality shows, sponsors, and the world loved Kazaam’s charisma. And fair or not, he was deemed the good guy, enjoying a get-out-of-jail-free-pass when poor conditioning set in.

Meanwhile, Bryant was down and out in La-La land. His team never advanced past the first round of the playoffs. Off-court, he couldn’t shake the negative ‘pub’ from various indiscretions. Fair or not, he was dubbed the bad guy, bottoming-out in June of 2007 with a series of bizarre trade demands.

Well, the tables have officially turned.

For the past ten months, Kobe’s career has been on the up. He won the 2007-08 regular season MVP through facilitating for others. He helped his teams advance to the NBA Finals. And he just received a gold medal with ‘Redeem Team’ USA.

His public relations reps made sure ABC/ESPN beamed shots of him hugging his daughter around the world. Most importantly, he has avoided nightmares like …       


And ...                                         

“NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has been ordered to steer clear of an Atlanta-area woman who took out a restraining order Thursday. 

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks granted Alexis Miller’s request Thursday after reviewing her allegations that the basketball player stalked her, threatened her with bodily harm and made harassing phone calls in which he breathed heavily into the phone before hanging up.”  (Atlanta Constitution Journal)
Interesting. One week earlier, The Atlanta Consitution Journal reported that

“The wife of Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal said Thursday that her marriage to the NBA star is on the mend.

During an interview about the launch of her new video-sharing Web site, Shaunie O'Neal told the Associated Press that the couple plans to stop  divorce proceedings soon.

Neither  one of us could probably answer why we were getting one in the first place, " Shaunie O'Neal said."  (Atlanta  Constitution Journal)

Okay, O’Neal is clearly down. Nobody knew what to make of his free style rap; right or wrong, it was his decision. And every couple has problems. However, a restraining order is never good, especially when the one being ‘restrained’ is supposedly rebuilding his marriage with his longtime wife.

Like I said, when one is up, the other must be down. Only now Shaq and Kobe have switched places.

Have O'Neal and Bryant switched places? Is it fair? Get at us in the comment box below and return to HoopsVibe the Blog for further NBA tidbits. Photo courtesy of The Jeff Selis.

Comments (20)
Tell me how my *** tastes August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Kobe, Kobe, Tell me how my a** tastes!!!! Classic ....
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lakerhater August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
kobe ain't sh*t without shaq
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Joe Zap August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Shaq isn't anything without guys like Wade or Kobe. Kobe is more talented than Shaq.. Problem is Kobe needs better support to win the NBA title. Gasol is not good enough..
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a guest August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Shaq is classless. He is a fat liar. His poor working attitude has been always sickening.
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Shaq Hater August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
A classless rap by a classless person. How long will it take for the honeymoon with Phoenix to be over? Ask Orlando, L.A. and Miami about his classless departures. Fatman O'Neal will never admit to his diminishing skills, so he has to resort to using his mouth to stay in the news. How sad to see a player go down in flames like Shaq.
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Jack August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Well Shaq just sucks now, and Kobe is a bit of a choker, but there's no denying he's the better of the two, I mean, Shaq doesn't have skills, he just has size. Not many big men actually have skill. Amare & Zydrunas are good examples of big men with skills.
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hoops4eva August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Good article, funny how life works out. I guess not only were the Lakers correct in keeping Kobe over Shaq - as most fans already knew - but they were also right in not offering Shaq the max-out deal he was seeking at $27-mil a season or so. He gave Miami the sweet deal of $20-mil per season that he was stupid not to give to the Lakers.His trade fired him up for a season to prove the Lakers wrong (so they got their money's worth in Miami) but has been an overweight, unmotivated dud since then. His latest rap a couple months back shows he's still not over getting traded from L.A., or his Kobe obsession. Poor, desperate Suns are now stuck with the rest of his mega deal taking up most of their cap room for the next two years while Shaq can look forward to being dominated by his young replacement, Andrew Bynum, and getting posterized by Kobe now 4 times a year instead of 2 he would have faced if he was still in the east...
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Lady Just observing August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Dear Shaquille O'Neal ,It is time that you go home and be a husband and a father. I am hoping that you and your wife fine love in your heart to make some choices to love each other and those beatufil children, I have been praying for both of you , Lord knows it is not easy ,but I wish you all would try harder, because money and Bling cannot make you happy.You may laugh at what I am saying but I felt that you appered more content when you were home with your family.
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dontfront August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Dont hate on one of the 50 greatest players to ever live.You fools are only interested in a solo act, while Shaq is actually a team player. He is a champion, don't get me wrong but the NBA is now a soft azz league, only power player out there is King James and he's a guard! Go ahead and cheer for these skinny 7'0 it's laughable. Cheer for Gasol ahahaha and Sasha, only reason there in the league is cause there's a zone in the NBA now or they'd get punked on the daily; just like the Celtics put on them in game 7
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a guest August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
I guess hard work does pay off in the end after all...kobe has the world in his palm and what does shaq do? (well, a restraining order for sure) and which reminds me, wasn't the whole world trying to kill Kobe when he told feds that he should have done what shaq did and paid that chick off and shaq cried saying he aint like that (well so much for that too)...Most of us true lakers fan lost respect for snack-attack when he refused to have a toe surgery in the offseason because he said he got hurt on work and he should get it treated during work time like most of us normal average joe do at our jobs when we get hurt on work...and you know what they say, karma is a b*t*h and its biting him in the a$s right now.
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dontfront August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
all these comments by NEVER BEENS is funny. Go buy a jersey of your favorite team and shut up.I remember a time when it was cool to dominate the paint and you had to try and knock him off, well the NBA did it by putting in the lame azz zone, go check online and read; 2001 was the year. Without the zone most of these guys couldn't gaurd a chair... you call them athletes?
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Kobe Rules, Shaq SUCKS August 25, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Shaq fans ... Tell me how Kobe's *** Tastes!
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dontfront August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
I have front page that shows Kobe losing finals. He needs rest of team, to win a GOLD.But in your narrow mind he won it by himself lol
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Yeah I Said It! August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Shaq is the G.O.A.T. Fu*kin haters! Kobe ain't got Sh*t on Kobe and never will. Like Manny, Shaq is being Shaq. That comes with good and bad, but he keeps life interesting snd unpredictable on and off the court. Unlike Kobe is pretty dry off the court, but can be intersting at times on the court
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O. Sandor August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Wow. He's back. After a long absence. 'Yeah I said it' makes a cameo. Hope to hear more from you -even if you give me grief.Thanks for reading and commenting etc.
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mredwin August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
It's funny how everyone likes to hate on Kobe he's this he's that but the rest of the players on Team USA when they where thinking oh know here we go again they had to look to Kobe to save the day. In Business," it's said, "Words are Words, Explanations are Explanations, Promises are Promises but only Performance is REALITY."
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YOUR SMALLEST FAN; YEAH I SAID IT! August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
Welcome back to you Oddly Slander, I thought you got fired. Oh well, I look forward to giving you a hard time on a regualr basis
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O. Sandor August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
No luck for you, Yeah I said it! Still here! Had to take some time away. Funny, I thought YOU got FIRED from this message board. Til we meet again tiny man!
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bwill August 26, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
This is what shaq deserves he is on a weak suns team. Kobe team is on the rise and a title team. Shaq tell me how kobe's ass taste.
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mimi September 02, 2008
Have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal switched places?
yeah yeah soooo what kobe life is great now..... he stil has no friends and it just a matter of time before he begins to screw it up all over again!!! i;m mean duh! hes a virgo.
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