Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant on the floor together coached by Phil Jackson was one of the most dominant trios in the history of basketball. Together, they rattled off three consecutive NBA championships, making four Finals in five seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. They did all that despite some public angst between O’Neal and Bryant throughout those seasons.

Bryant was the hard-nosed hustler who wanted everyone to work as hard as he did, while O’Neal was more carefree off the court, letting his play speak for itself. The two styles clashed consistently over the years, but Jackson never let it get in the way of on-court success.

And O’Neal got the chance to explain why Jackson was so successful with him and Bryant together, with the way that he masterfully handled both personalities. He discussed this on “New Heights” with Jason and Travis Kelce:

“Phil treated you like a man. Like I always used to go to Phil, like ‘Hey, you better get this little motherf——. No seriously, you better get him.’ And Phil was like no, and I was like why, and he was like ‘I always want him to have that aggression.’ And Phil was one of the most smooth talkers, he never raised his voice. The way he explained it to you was like if we take his aggression away, we’ll ruin him. And you’re gonna need him down the stretch. Just work through it. And I was leaving, it was like ‘this motherf—— just mindf—-ed me.’ And it worked. Because I used to go into his office and be like I’m letting you know right now. And he would be like no I’m not taking his aggression away. Michael had that same aggression, I see something in the kid. You guys have to work it out. He treated us like men, Phil never had much to say about our so-called problems. He’ll hone him in every now and again, but you’re gonna need this kid down the stretch.”

The Lakers hiring Jackson after his tenure with the Chicago Bulls was the exact move they needed to make at that time. He showed with the Bulls that he could handle any personality, any argument and still find ways to win championships. That’s exactly what he did in L.A.

If not for Jackson, it’s hard to know how long Bryant and O’Neal would have put up with each other, or how long the organization would have put up with the fighting. Instead, the Lakers have three more championships and four more Finals appearances to their names.

Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley have become staples for NBA entertainment and analysis as members of Inside the NBA.

Inside the NBA on TNT has given basketball fans plenty of discussions, laughs and memories over the decades but the 2024-25 season marked the final year the network would carry the show. Following discussions with other broadcast partners, Inside the NBA will move to ESPN and ABC next season, though will keep O’Neal, Johnson, Smith and Barkley together.

With TNT no longer being a broadcast partner, national NBA games will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, back on NBC and new to Amazon Prime Video moving forward. It’s a bittersweet moment for the network and Inside the NBA as they’ve become nearly synonymous with primetime basketball.

On the final episode of Inside the NBA on TNT, the crew gave a heartfelt farewell to the network.

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