Shaq’s son Shaqir O’Neal remembers Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as Florida A&M hooper shares cold highlight edit on IG

Shaqir O’Neal has been a huge fan of Kobe Bryant for many years and took several pictures with the legend before his death.

The Florida A&M Rattlers star paid tribute to the late basketball legend on Sunday, which included a compilation of the Lakers legend on his Instagram story.

Shaq’s son, with over 784k followers, shared a video that contained highlights of Kobe Bryant's early playing days, his rise to stardom, his season MVP win, his dribbling skills and his basketball shots for the Lakers.

Clip of Kobe Bryant's highlights (Credit: IG/@shaqironeall)

Despite being a fan of the late great superstar, Shaqir O’Neal has struggled with his performance for the No. 7 Florida A&M this season. The forward had a poor outing in the Rattlers' loss on Wednesday in the quarterfinal of the SWAC tournament.

He only managed to produce four points, two assists and five rebounds in the game. This season, Shaqir O’Neal has only managed an average of 6.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 50.3 FG% per game.

Shaqir O’Neal's Rattlers crash out of SWAC tournament

On Wednesday, Florida A&M Rattlers (14-17) were hit with a huge blow in their hunt for an automatic ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Rattlers lost 91-76 to No. 2 Jakson State Tigers (15-17) in the quarterfinal of the SWAC tournament.

The Tigers dominated the first half of the encounter, winning 46-31 and leaving Florida to chase the second half. However, in the second half, the Rattlers came fighting back and claimed a 45-45 draw, but their effort was not enough to get them through to the semifinal.

Roderick Coffee III led with the highest points for Florida (30), adding five assists and four rebounds in the game. Milton Matthews and Jordan Chatman also had 18 points each in the game.

The Tigers advanced to the semifinal, defeating the No. 3 Bethune-Cookman 71-50 on Friday to advance to the final. However, they lost the final to the No. 5 Alabama State Hornets 60-56 on Saturday, losing the Championship and an automatic ticket to the NCAA Tournament.