New book shares story about Shaq slapping Kobe during pickup run

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant won three championships as teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers, but their time together wasn't without some dustups.

In Jeff Pearlman's new book "Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty," former NBA center Olden Polynice recalls one such exchange between O'Neal and Bryant while playing pickup during the 1998-99 lockout.

O'Neal called a series of fouls, which led to a back-and-forth between the pair. Bryant declared the Lakers his team and told O'Neal he wasn't a leader, according to an excerpt shared by ESPN. O'Neal proceeded to slap Bryant across the face.

"Then Shaq swung again at Kobe, but he missed," Polynice said. "Shit! I run over and grab Shaq because I'm big enough to do so. And Shaq keeps swinging, but everything's missing because I have his arms. I'm grabbing on to Shaq, holding on for dear life, yelling, 'Somebody grab Kobe! Seriously - somebody grab him!' Because I'm holding Shaq and Kobe's taking swings at him."

Bryant was apparently unbothered, telling O'Neal, "Is that all you've got? You're soft!" The fight eventually ended when O'Neal's bodyguard, Jerome Crawford, stepped in to calm him down.

"They were just two alpha males who couldn't coexist," Polynice said. "Shaq's mindset was, 'This is my team.' Kobe's mindset was, 'Nobody's gonna punk me.' You can't have two alpha males. It doesn't work."