Shaquille O’Neal is trying his best to take care of the family of his former NBA co-star.
The retired basketball legend O’Neal spoke this week in an interview to People. During the interview, O’Neal revealed that he regularly checks in on the family of the late Kobe Bryant, namely Bryant’s mother Pamela and Bryant’s older sisters Sharia and Shaya.
“I always check in on Kobe’s mom,” said O’Neal. “I check in on his mom once a month, make sure she’s okay.
“They live in Vegas,” O’Neal added of Bryant’s immediate family. “I’m in Vegas. I’m close with his sisters. I just call to check on them. Their mom has been through a lot in a couple of years, and that takes a toll, and sometimes you just need somebody to check in on you.”
O’Neal also said that he sends flowers to Bryant’s mother to “try to make her smile” and adds that Bryant himself used to check in on O’Neal’s parents as well. You can read O’Neal’s full interview with People here.
The two Basketball Hall of Famers O’Neal and Bryant were teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996-2004, winning three NBA championships together. But they had a very well-documented feud toward the end of their time as teammates, and O’Neal said that he hadn’t spoken to Bryant for years before Bryant’s tragic death in a Jan. 2020 helicopter crash at the age of 41.
Even so though, O’Neal is still going out of his way these days to check in on Bryant’s family. Bryant’s father, ex-NBA player Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, also died last year at the age of 69, so O’Neal is making sure to do what he can for Pamela, Sharia, and Shaya.