This year, in an effort to liven up the All-Star Game, the NBA allowed two of its best players to choose teams. Once the All-Stars had been selected for the game, team captains LeBron James and Stephen Curry made their picks. This has raised questions about who would have picked whom in All-Star drafts of years past.
In a recent interview with ESPN's Jemele Hill for The Undefeated, Kobe Bryant said that if he were a captain in 2005, he would have taken LeBron rather than Shaquille O'Neal.
"I'd take LeBron James," Kobe said. "Are you kidding me?"
For the Win asked Shaq how he felt about Kobe's comment, and the Big Diesel seemed totally unbothered.
"If you look at the rules, whoever got the most votes got to be the pick, that would've been me," Shaq said. "But, I’m not offended by that. He gotta pick who he gotta pick. Being that we played together all the time, he wants to play with somebody different. I understand that."
The two, who played together with the Lakers from 1996-2004, had a notoriously hairy relationship during their playing careers. The division eventually led to them going different directions in 2004, when the Lakers re-signed Kobe and traded Shaq to the Miami Heat. They both still had good years left, so NBA fans have long wondered about what could have been if they had worked through their differences.
These guys are both all-time greats, they've both had successful post-NBA careers, and they seem to have worked through any turmoil that once existed in their relationship. It's nice to see them get along.
