J.R. Rider Said Shaq Offered Him $10K to Fight Kobe Three Days After He Joined the Lakers

It's no secret that Shaq and Kobe weren't always on great terms. And while it probably wasn't meant to be funny at the time, this seems like a pretty lighthearted story about their relationship now.

On Stephen Jackson's 'All The Smoke' podcast, former Laker J.R. Rider revealed that just days into his tenure with the team, Shaq made it very clear he could earn some extra money if he got into it with Kobe.

“So when I first get to the Lakers, Shaq tells me, ‘If you and Kobe get into it, it’s 10 Gs in the locker," Rider said. “'There’s 10 Gs in one dollar bills, man, if you ever get into it and handle your business, grab that.'”

Given that Rider said this offer came on his third day as a member of the lakers, it's logical to assume Shaq made this offer to seemingly every player on the team. i would love to know if any player ever collected the $10,000, though I don't know who would admit to doing it.

It's so crazy to think about how awesome those Lakers teams were with two stars who, for the majority of their careers, hated each other. But when you have two of the greatest players to ever do it on the same team, both with justifiably large egos, it's not inconceivable that they wouldn't love each other immediately. Shaq probably isn't too far off when he says they could have won 10 championships if they had just gotten along.

RIP Kobe.