Shaquille O'Neal says he won't watch Kobe Bryant's Hall of Fame ceremony, would make him too sad
The induction ceremony of one of the greatest classes in the history of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will be missing one very large viewer.
Shaquille O’Neal said in an episode of his podcast posted Wednesday that he won’t be watching the ceremony. The simple reason is that it would make him too sad about the death of Kobe Bryant, who is set to be posthumously inducted in a class that also features Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Tamika Catchings and others. The ceremony is currently scheduled for Aug. 29.
“I’m actually not going to watch the Hall of Fame ceremony,” O’Neal said. “On the scale of sadness from 1 to 10, I’m finally at least at a 2 now ... That would bring it back to a 7, 8, 9 and I can’t right now. So I don’t want to see old highlights that I’m already watching now.”
“It would be great if his wife gave a speech or his mom or dad gave a speech but I'll see that afterwards. I'm not gonna watch the ceremony.”
O’Neal has been open about the emotions he felt over the death of his former teammate, with whom he had a combative but ultimately strong relationship.
There’s no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed. My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com/pigHywq3c1
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) January 26, 2020
In response to a co-host’s suggestion that Bryant could be given his own separate night for induction, O’Neal offered on idea for the ceremony that will likely go unheeded.
“You know what would be nice? If they had a hologram. A hologram of him sitting next everybody else.”
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