Kobe Bryant had a little-known feud with a former LA Lakers teammate who made an alleged inappropriate comment to his wife, Vanessa.
Bryant is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time alongside the likes of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Steph Curry.
Alongside his obvious talent, he was never afraid to tell his teammates what he thought of them, with several ‘feuds’ forming throughout his illustrious NBA career – namely the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant feud.
O’Neal, 53, and Bryant played together at the LA Lakers from 1996 to 2004 and won three consecutive NBA championships between 2000 and 2002.
However, they were not the best of pals with reports often suggesting they had several disagreements throughout their time playing together.
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But it was not Shaq who made the alleged comment.
As reported by Sports Illustrated, during the 2003/04 season, drama unfolded between Bryant and Hall of Famer Karl Malone after he was accused of making inappropriate comments to Kobe’s wife, Vanessa.
Bryant gave his thoughts on the incident in 2004.
"Like I said, when everything got started and he had mentioned that our relationship kind of took a sour note because of something personal, my response to that is personal information is just personal," Bryant said.
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"We just keep it between ourselves and amongst each other, that's it. We're trying to move on from it but they wanted it public or whatever. Words started leaking out. It is what it is."
When asked if he was prepared to repair his personal relationship with Malone, Bryant replied: "Not on a personal relationship.
"When all that stuff happened, we kept our mouths shut. It is what it is. You let him and his family deal with that situation."
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But what was Malone's take on the feud?
Well, he gave his thoughts during an interview with the Huffington Post in 2015.
"We had a little issue," Malone said.
"I don't hold grudges ... I love Westerns. I'm old-school Western. Back in the day, when you had a beef, you didn't go get guns and knives ... we just go back in the back with no cameras and knuckle up. Get it over with."
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He was then pressed on whether he has offered this resolution to Bryant.
"It's a standing offer," Malone replied. "Look, I don't want no trouble. I don't have a problem. People say whatever they want to say and that's great. I'm 6-9, 272 [pounds] to be exact. I'm not hard to find. I don't want no trouble. But if something got to go down, I'm not playing fair."
Topics: Kobe Bryant, NBA, LA Lakers, Basketball
Luke Davies