Shaq & Kobe were more than just teammates, they were family so it's no surprise the Big Man got emotional during a Kobe tribute at the Staples Center speaking on the subject for the first time in public since the tragic helicopter crash which claimed 9 lives, including the Black Mamba.
VIA The New York Post: Sitting at center court inside Staples Center on Tuesday night, a grief-stricken Shaquille O’Neal teared up as he continued to mourn the death of Kobe Bryant.
“I haven’t felt the pain that sharp in a while,” O’Neal said as part of TNT’s tribute to his former Lakers running mate.
O’Neal said he was working out in his basement Sunday when one of his nephews showed him his phone with news that the 41-year-old Bryant was killed in a Southern California helicopter crash earlier that morning, which also claimed the lives of eight others, including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, as they were on their way to Bryant’s basketball facility.
“And I snapped on [the nephew],” O’Neal said, not believing the news. “We live in a world where anything can be Photoshopped, hoaxed.
“Everybody called me and we found out it was confirmed.”
*IMAGE VIA GETTY*