When  passed  in the all-time scoring list, the big man called Stephen A. Smith to deliver a heartfelt message for the Black Mamba. For O'Neal, Kobe is the greatest player ever to don the Los Angeles Lakers jersey.

Purple and Gold GOAT

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Interestingly, Kobe passed Shaq in a game against the . This is not just Kobe's hometown team. The 76ers were the team the  faced in the 2001 NBA Finals. They won their second straight title in a dominant fashion.

Kobe's thoughts

As seen in the video, Kobe was pleased with the message. According to Kobe, the fact that the message came from Shaq meant so much, especially given what they've been through together.

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Interestingly, Kobe did not mention their much-publicized feud. From the looks of it, Kobe wasn't even thinking about the tension between him and his former teammate. He understood that some people just don't get along very well. What's important is that they shared a passion for the game of basketball.

In a way, Kobe's message mirrors Shaq's thoughts on him. As Big Diesel has said repeatedly, he didn't harbor ill feelings toward Kobe. For Shaq, it's just normal for friends to have their differences. But at the end of the day, he loves his partner and respects the hell out of him.

There's no denying that the Kobe-Shaq duo is one of the best partnerships in the history of basketball. It's right up there with Jordan-Pippen, Magic-Kareem, and LeBron-Kyrie. The Kobe-Shaq duo probably has the best narrative out of all of them. The two dominated the NBA in the early 2000s, broke up, had a heated feud, and then patched things up later on. It's a story seemingly plucked out of a great film or a classic book.