NBA Hall Of Famer Shaquille O’Neal honored the memory of his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant in a touching gesture, working with a company to restore an SUV that Bryant once owned. O’Neal presented the fully restored vehicle to Pam Bryant, Kobe’s mother, this past Sunday, which is regarded as Kobe Day in the city of Los Angeles.
According to O’Neal’s close friend Anthony Hall, it all began after a visit by O’Neal to the home of Bryant’s mom. He noticed the 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser parked outside of the house. When Mrs. Bryant told the former Lakers center that it was the car that Kobe used to drive when he attended Lower Merion High School outside of Philadelphia, O’Neal was inspired to contact Effortless Motors. The automotive company based in Riverside, California, has been O’Neal’s go-to for car restorations. They picked up the vehicle and brought it back to the house on Sunday, which coincidentally was Kobe’s birthday.
It’s not the first car-related tribute to his former teammate that the four-time NBA champion has done. In July, O’Neal showed off another car that Effortless Motors worked on for him in a Reel on Instagram. The car is a customized wide-body black Dodge Hellcat convertible, outfitted with a rich red leather interior and a speaker system embedded in the back seat, which bears the Superman logo and “DJ DIESEL.” The car is in his garage, which has a mural of Kobe and himself holding the gold Larry O’Brien trophy.
Shaq has been remained close to Kobe’s family in recent years, and commented on his relationship with Pam Bryant after the passing of Joe “Jellybean” Bryant last year while appearing on the Off The Record with Bailey Jackson podcast: “I’m really close with his mother now. We talk all the time. Cause I know. I know her pain is… But I just call her, just to check on her. See if she needs anything. Flowers. Love you. Miss you. Stuff like that.”
O’Neal has also been more candid about the beef that he and Bryant had, despite winning three titles together during their time with the Lakers. “I’ll never get to see Kobe again, in real life, forever. And I just should have called. He should have called. We both should have called. But he’s working, I’m working, so it’s ‘I’ll see you when I see you,’” he said in a past interview with People.
