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LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was known for his competitiveness and high IQ on the basketball court. However, according to Bryant’s former teammate Shaquille O’Neal, the five-time champion was also extremely intelligent off the court.
During a recent episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” O’Neal spoke about Bryant's SAT scores.
“A lot of people don’t know Kobe made a 1700 on the SAT,” O’Neal said. “Very smart. He was a nerd, and I hope people don’t think I’m being disrespectful, I’m not. Kobe was very smart, very intelligent. All A’s throughout high school. Talking to his family, he was very, very intelligent.”
O’Neal then explained that Bryant was so smart that Duke tried to recruit him due to his intelligence in addition to his basketball skills.
“Talk about going to Duke. Duke didn’t want him because he was a great basketball player, they wanted him because he was a scholar also,” O’Neal said. “So a lot of people didn’t know that."
O’Neal added that he was shocked by Bryant’s SAT score as he himself had failed the test twice:
“When I heard he made a 1700 on the SAT, I was like d**n. I made a 680 on my SAT. I failed it twice,” O’Neal said.
When O'Neal's co-host Nischelle Turner pointed out that people can't actually fail the test, the LA Lakers legend said:
“Yes, you can. If you don’t get a 700 you can’t play. I made a 680 twice."
Shaquille O’Neal’s discussion about Kobe Bryant’s intelligence starts at the 40:40 mark below:
Shaquille O’Neal says he took his ACT “rhyme style”
Later on in "The Big Podcast", Shaquille O’Neal said that he took his ACT rhyme style to pass. O’Neal then explained that rhyme style consists of randomly picking answers while rapping. O’Neal added that this led his classmates to think he was smart for being the first one to finish.
“You know the guy would come and say, ‘You got 40 minutes to do the math thing,’” O’Neal said. “So I’d get my s**t done in 10 minutes and I’d slam it down on the table and let people know I’m smart. Everybody would look and say, ‘Shaq’s smart as hell.’”
O’Neal’s conversation about taking his ACT rhyme style starts at the 41:35 mark below.
