Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal - Inside the NBA's most dynamic/dysfunctional duo's feud

It is fitting that Kobe is a name already suited for a K-serial. You think those soap operas had drama? They are Sesame Street compared to what the Lakers had on their hands with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. If the WWE were to adapt the storyline of their feud, one might dismiss it as being too unrealistic.

Before the league veered towards the Big 3, there were a number of eras of two superstars who complemented each other perfectly. Dynamic duos. One-two punches. Dependable tandem. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Bob Cousey and Bill Russell, John Stockton and Karl Malone, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving and Moses Malone, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, and Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Those are some of the most prominent names on the list of dynamic duos.

Then we have one of the greatest "What could have been?" questions in sport, with the duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Never has such immense potential been squandered, not even when the Bulls chose to break up Jordan's 3-peat team.

Kobe and Shaq remain among the most prolific one-two punch in basketball, one of the most dominant inside-outside combo of all time. They are also the quintessential dysfunctional duo, a stark contrast in personalities which mixed as peacefully as flames and napalm.

Their relationship was a rocky rollercoaster which ultimately ended with the rollercoaster train flying off the rails at its peak and crashing down in a glorious blaze.

Here's a look at how it all began, the highs and lows, and the inevitable breakup.

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#1 Two alphas arrive

Fresh-face Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal

Establishing hierarchy among dynamic duos can be a tricky maneuver. One has to be Robin to the Batman; you can't have two alpha dogs without friction. Of all the duos mentioned above, only the Magic-Kareem duo would invite a debate on who the clear cut leader was. One can say that initially, Kareem was the Batman, and down the road as he got older and Magic grew into his own, the roles reversed to a certain extent.

In some cases, the debate can be decided by who came first. There was a time when the Miami Heat were said to be powered by Dwyane Wade over LeBron James, mainly because LeBron left Cleveland to come to Miami. In the case of Kobe and Shaq, there would be no such easy solution as they both came to the Los Angles Lakers in 1996.

Kobe Bryant was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets as the 13th pick, the Lakers traded Vlade Divac for him when he made it clear to the Hornets that he wouldn't play for them. Jerry West was the manager for the Lakers back then, and he had his sights set on Bryant once he saw the youngster's pre-draft workout. The Lakers knew that they had someone special on their hands with him.

Shaq arrived at the Lakers via free agency when they offered him a seven-year, $120 million contract. Jerry West compared his elation at signing Shaq with the birth of his children.

Shaq had already proven his mettle at the NBA Finals with the Orlando Magic, helping them defeat the vaunted Chicago Bulls in the conference finals. Initially, there was no question that the duo arrived at the Lakers with Shaq being the main draw.

Kobe wasn't one to take things slow, though. He brashly proclaimed that he would lead the Lakers in scoring and eventually become the best player in the game. In hindsight, Kobe came very close to following up on that.

#2 Growing pains

Shaq and Kobe almost came to hard blows in practice

Shaq had a brusque response to the questions about Kobe fitting in, saying, "I'm not gonna be babysitting." The duo were assembled with each thinking himself to be the bigger fish in the pond. The next two years saw Kobe Bryant ride the bench for the most part.

Sport has time and time shown us that merely assembling a star-studded cast isn't enough to guarantee success. The first three seasons of the dynamic duo saw the Lakers bowing out in the playoffs.

In the 1997 playoffs, the Lakers fell to the Utah Jazz in five games. In 1998, the Jazz swept the Lakers behind Kobe Bryant's infamous four air balls. At the time, Shaq had Kobe's back by commending his courage and said that he was the only one with enough guts to shoot the ball.

In the 1999 season, the Lakers were swept by the Spurs in the second round. Reports of internal strife kept making the news in tinsel town, where news is readily manufactured if unavailable. Shaq felt that Kobe was a selfish player and that Jerry West favoured Kobe, as did Kurt Rambis, who coached the Lakers during the 1998-99 season.

He was also reportedly jealous that Kobe's jerseys outsold his.

The 1999-2000 All-Star Game also gave us a transparent look at the tension brewing between Shaq and Kobe. In the All-Star game introductions, Shaq mimicked Kobe's crossover followed by an exaggerated air-ball. He claimed that it was an inside joke, but knowing Kobe's competitive ego, one can guess that he wasn't really laughing.

#3 The Rings

The Lakers almost went without a loss in the 2001 Playoffs, losing only one game in the Finals

Adversity builds character, and both superstars in the making were going through losses on court which united them against a common foe at the end of the day. It's only when all foes were vanquished that they turned towards each other with venom.

In 1999, the Lakers signed “Zen Master” Phil Jackson to lead them to the promised land. Having coached Michael Jordan and the Bulls to six titles, Jackson had the clout to keep players under his thumb and the tact to exercise that diplomatically.

Funnily enough, Phil's method of resolving conflicts was to allow it to play out in the media. Kobe's primary beef with Shaq was that the latter was frequently out of shape, and Kobe felt that he wasn't motivated enough.

Shaq didn't like that Kobe wanted to be the ‘top dog’, and he felt that Kobe ought to defer to him more and move the ball better.

Phil didn't do as much as one would think to conciliate the two as he felt that they would only push each other to be better. One time when the reporters asked Phil about it, he dismissed it by calling both of them 'juvenile'.

He had seen it happen with the Bulls when Michael Jordan would rain down a hail storm on those who didn't compete hard enough. It is widely believed that the one-on-one competitions that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen engaged in, pushed both of them to great heights, which they otherwise wouldn't have reached.

The Lakers’ dynamic duo won three titles together, in 2000, 2001 and 2002. They defeated the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets en route to the titles.

From the outside, it seemed that the two superstars had worked out their differences and the rings were a proof of that. But tension had been mounting even as they were winning.

#4 Taking greatness for granted

The tension had been brewing for a long time

Even when the Lakers were winning, they witnessed a number of new faces come in the 2000-01 season. As a result, Kobe felt that the team needed to change it's playing style and he needed more touches. Shaq disagreed and wanted the offense to run through him in the post.

Shaq even held the defense hostage by saying that he wouldn't be holding the fort down on defense if he didn't get his touches on offense. That touched a nerve with Kobe. In the crossfire, their teammates would try to conciliate the two, often to no avail.

Even one of their best moments, the alley oop from Kobe to Shaq in the 2000 Western Conference Finals against the Trail Blazers, was marred by controversy. After Shaq slammed the pass home, he ran downcourt while pointing his fingers upward. Kobe tried to high five him, but Shaq all but ignored him and brushed himself away.

While the Lakers did win three titles together, the process was far from sustainable. You can only rely on your stars burning each other out for so long before the damage becomes irreparable.

The 2002-03 season seemed doomed from the start as Shaq opted to undergo surgery when the season began rather than in the off-season. He said, "I got hurt on company time, so I'll get treatment on company time." It can be argued that the off-season is a time for the players to recuperate and improve their game as well, but Shaq would have none of that.

That season was an uphill climb for Shaq as he tried to get fit and healthy. The Lakers started the season 11-19 and never found their groove as they were defeated by the Spurs in the playoffs.

#5 The lost season

This could have been a dream team if it happened a few years ago

While the Detroit Pistons are credited with stopping the juggernaut that the Lakers of the '00s were, the divorce between Kobe and Shaq was festering for a very long time.

The 2003-04 season saw the Lakers retool with the addition of Karl Malone and Gary Payton, two Hall of Fame players who signed for low amounts, to win a ring. The season also came under the microscope when Kobe Bryant was confronted with allegations of rape, and he had to fly to and fro many times in the season to take part in the legal proceedings.

Shaq again took credit for the two additions, saying that they came to the Lakers for one player, not two. He again threw barbs towards Kobe, insinuating that he needed to focus on distributing the ball as he's recovering from a knee surgery. When the team were without Kobe during a training camp, Shaq stated that the "full team is here".

In the pre-season, Shaq dunked the ball and yelled "Pay me!" to Dr. Buss, in a clear sign of disrespect towards the legend. He later claimed that he made a mistake in trying to negotiate from what he thought was a position of power. But his questionable fitness and advancing age did not paint him as a bright investment for the future.

The Lakers tumbled to the NBA Finals only to lose in just five games to the Detroit Pistons. It didn't help that Karl Malone suffered a knee injury when the Lakers started the season 20-5. He aggravated it in the playoffs again and missed what turned out to be the final game of the NBA Finals against Detroit.

This marked the end of an era for the Lakers, as Phil Jackson was let go and Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat.

In the off-season, Kobe Bryant leaned towards heading to the Los Angles Clippers before changing his mind and staying with the Lakers. And this marked the end of what could have been the greatest duo of all time.

#6 Post-breakup barbs and conciliation

The two have since mended their friendship

The rivalry wasn't over after they separated. Shaq's Heat defeated Kobe's Lakers the two times they met in the regular season next year. And when Kobe lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals in 2008, Shaq rapped "Kobe, how's my a** taste?", and blamed Kobe for his divorce as he pointed fingers at Shaq's extra-marital affairs.

Finally, Shaq and Kobe made up publically at the 2008-09 All Star game, when they were teammates and co-MVPs. Shaq asked Kobe to keep the trophy, but Kobe gave it to Shaq's son.

All wasn't said and done, though. In 2009-10 when Kobe won the second of his two rings without Shaq, he said “I got one more than Shaq now, and you can take that to the bank.”

Recently, however, Kobe and Shaq have made up. They appeared on a podcast together to clear the air, and both took back a lot of the biting criticisms they made of the other. In Kobe’s final game, Shaq challenged him to score fifty points, and Kobe got 60 instead.

What could have happened if Kobe and Shaq stayed together? Multiple championships, for one. And the two could have probably climbed the ladder to become the top scorers of all time in the league.

Kobe Bryant made a valiant attempt to scale that peak, but the load of carrying the franchise broke his body down. Shaq could have been right up there if he had perhaps listened to Rick Barry and thrown his free throws underhanded!