Kobe Bryant News: Shaq Picks Mamba Over LeBron James

Bill Laimbeer made some headlines last week when he said on the Dan Patrick Show that he would take LeBron James over Michael Jordan. With all due respect to Laimbeer, he is absolutely insane. Now, LeBron will go down as one of the best of all time, but his career is not over yet and last time I checked six is greater than two.

-== Top 10 Lakers Draft Picks of All-Time ==-

Laimbeer and the Detroit Pistons battled Jordan in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The two teams did not like each other, which could be a reason for Laimbeer choosing LeBron over Jordan. Today, Shaquille O’Neal was a guest on the Dan Patrick Show and he quickly picked Jordan over LeBron. Shaq admitted that Laimbeer might have been a bit biased when making his decision.

Patrick would go on to ask Shaq the same question, but using Kobe Bryant instead of Jordan. Who would Shaq pick between Kobe and LeBron assuming both of them are in their prime of their career? Shaq didn’t take too long to answer, his choice was Kobe. (via: James Herbert of CBS Sports):

"“I played with both of them,” O’Neal said. “You know, Kobe has that killer instinct. And I’d probably have to go with Kobe. That’s not a knock against LeBron. It’s just that I know Kobe and I played with him longer. I’ve seen what he can do.”"

Shaq is one of the most dominant players to ever play this game and he witnessed first hand what it was like to play with Kobe and LeBron. Shaq obviously had more success with Kobe, but for him the answer seemed pretty simple.

The Diesel would follow his response by praising LeBron for all his positive traits and accomplishments, but ultimately decided that Kobe’s killer instinct was the deciding factor.

Shaq’s response is surprising considering the publicized scrutiny both players went through while they were teammates in Los Angeles. They might not be best friends, but both are smart enough to recognize how great of a duo they made together.

The Lakers could have won more than three titles if they would have settled their differences. Now, we can only wonder “what if.”

For the entire Dan Patrick interview with Shaq, here’s the video below: