"You piss him off" - Shaquille O'Neal reveals pushing Kobe Bryant past his limits with psychological games

NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal is known for openly criticizing modern players. He doesn't hold back what he wants to say and it often comes off as offensive for some people. However, he has revealed that he used this method with his former teammate, the late Kobe Bryant, to motivate him.

Shaq and Bryant were teammates at the LA Lakers for eight seasons. During that time, they won three straight titles. They are still the most recent team to win three in a row. Unfortunately, the two had a falling out as the big man was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004.

Shaq was recently a guest on Trae Young's podcast, "From the Point," where he talked about why he's hard on the new stars of the league. According to the four-time champion, he was tough on Bryant when they were teammates, which urged 'The Black Mamba' to change his mentality and approach to the game, and turned him into a champion.

"All the suff I do now with players. I did with him [Bryant]. When you got a dog, you agitate him," O'Neal said. "He doesn't respond to nice. He responds like, 'This my sh*t.' And I knew it ate him up a lot but that was my tactic to keep him going."

"You got a killer pitbull, you don't pet him. You piss him off and make sure he stays that pitbull... He wanted to be great. He wanted to be better than me. He wanted to be than Mike and it just kept going."

O'Neal's method worked out well for Bryant. He won his lone MVP award years after Shaq was traded and won two more titles, giving him more championships than his former teammate. Now, the 18-time All-Star is regarded as arguably the best Laker of all time.

You might also be interested in reading this: “ALL YALL DO IS CHEAT”: Shaquille O'Neal & Jamal Crawford get hilariously called out by fellow ‘NBA on TNT’ panelist Candace Parker

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Shaquille O'Neal reveals what he thinks of Dwight Howard

It's known around the league that Shaquille O'Neal isn't the biggest fan of Dwight Howard. O'Neal has often criticized the former Orlando Magic star for his persona off the court. But while talking to Trae Young, Shaq shared that he used to love the younger center.

"I used to love Dwight. He did something I couldn't do. I wish I could jump that high. I love Dwight Howard... this is my first time saying that," Shaq said.

The former NBA MVP shared that he wanted Howard to be better than him, which was why he was critical of him. Shaq used the same method he used on Bryant to push other stars like the three-time Defensive Player of the Year. Unfortunately, that didn't work out well and others took offense to his criticism.

O'Neal clarified that he didn't hate Howard, but was just showing him the ropes of how he could've elevated his game.