Kobe, Shaq exchange regrets about how their Lakers union ended

Every few months, the public is treated to a revisiting of the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O'Neal Los Angeles Lakers beef of the 2000s. This spring, it was reported that Shaq once threatened to murder Kobe.

The two dominant NBA superstars have both admitted a mutual respect in the decade-plus since their 2004 breakup, despite some of Shaq's accusations over the years and asking Bryant in 2008 "how his ass tastes."

The pair have now gotten together for a chat on O'Neal's podcast, "The Big Podcast With Shaq," scheduled for a Monday release. However, ESPN L.A. 710 released an excerpt of the conversation Wednesday, complete with some partial mea culpas. O'Neal admitted that much of his rhetoric leading up to his 2004 trade from the Lakers to the Miami Heat was business posturing.

I definitely did not want to leave L.A., but you know that's how you've got to talk when you're in business, especially when you think you're in control. Definitely didn't want to leave L.A. A lot of stuff was said out of the heat of the moment. I guarantee I don't remember a lot of stuff that they said because I changed my thought process of, 'you know what, we won three out of four (NBA titles), what the hell are you all talking about, this is not really even a story.'

Bryant conceded that he was too immature at the time to handle the situation properly, and admonished both himself and O'Neal for externalizing their issues with the media:

When you say it at the time you actually mean it, and then when you get older you have more perspective and you're like, 'holy shit, I was an idiot when I was a kid.' To me, the most important thing was really just keep your mouth shut. You don't need to go to the press with stuff. You keep it internal and we have our arguments and our disagreements, but I think having our debates within the press was something I wish would've been avoided, but it did kind of create this whirlwind around us as a team with myself and Shaq and the press and the media that just put so much pressure on us as an organization.

Lakers fans may forever wonder how many more titles they could have won had the pair stuck together, but it appears the team's locker room wasn't big enough for both of them at the time.

The complete episode will be available Monday at PodcastOne.com and the PodcastOne app.

- With h/t to LakersNation