Things got emotional Tuesday for Shaquille O’Neal when he opened about Kobe Bryant’s death. While talking to his NBA on TNT colleagues, the tears started to come out as he talked about the passing of his “little brother”.
“I haven’t felt a pain that sharp in a while.. it definitely changes me,” O’Neal said.
“We’re up here, we work a lot. And I think a lot of times, we take stuff for granted,” said O’Neal. “I don’t talk to you guys as much as I needed to.”
He then talked about how they would never be able to joke at Bryant’s Hall of Fame ceremony and continue to mourn Bryant. “Listen, people gonna say take your time and get better, but it’s gonna be hard for me,” he said. “My condolences go out to his family, his mom, his dad, his sisters, the other families, everybody involved.”
He shared his story about when he got the news of Bryant’s death. “I didn’t want to believe it… I said to myself, ‘I hope somebody, made this up and it’s not true. I didn’t want to believe it.”
O’Neal continued, “And then I get all these calls and you finally feel the concern and just, my spirit just left my body.”
“I just wish I could be able to say one thing to say to the people that we lost,” he added, “because once you’re gone, you’re gone forever and, you know, we should never take stuff like that for granted.”
Watch the video below.