Back when Shaq and Kobe’s relationship was at its lowest point, the former didn’t even want to acknowledge the latter existed.

When Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant went their separate ways after spending eight years and winning three championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, the two were pitted against each other at all times.

The beef between O’Neal and Bryant was so prominent that the media did its best to document every moment they could — like when ‘The Diesel’ sat down with ESPN and pretended he had no idea who Bean was when asked about him.

“I’m not familiar with that name. I know a lot of names in my head, but I’m not familiar with that name, especially if there’s nothing to talk about. I’m sorry. I can’t recall that name,” O’Neal said when he was asked about his relationship with Bryant at its lowest point. “I don’t know what that is, I’m sorry.”

One of the biggest beefs in NBA history

The reason why the beef between Shaquille and Kobe — even if the former continues to say that there was never such a thing — was such an interesting time in NBA history was because these two built a dynasty together for a franchise that happens to be the most dramatic one in basketball.

It’s not a secret that these two all-time greats didn’t get along because of their egos, and it didn’t help that the Purple and Gold had to choose between them.

Although years after they retired from the game, O’Neal looked back at his feud with Bryant and said it was merely ‘work beef.’ It didn’t really affect them besides the opportunity to win more championships together.

“Listen, I think right now it’s time to clear the air because I’ve said many times that we were the most enigmatic, controversial, most talked about, dominant one-two punch,” Shaq told Kobe via nba.com.

“I just want people to know that I don’t hate. I know you don’t hate me. I called it today a ‘work beef,’ is what we had. I was young. You were young. But as I look at it, we won three out of four (championships), so I don’t really think a lot was done wrong. I just want to clear the air and let everyone know that: No, I don’t hate you,” he added.

The man who encouraged Shaq to make amends with Kobe

O’Neal is obviously now a different and more mature person compared to the time when he said he had no idea who Bryant was on national television.

After years of going at it and settling on the fact that KB eventually won one more championship than ‘The Diesel,’ the latter decided to squash their beef thanks to the advice of the great Bill Russell.

The two never got the chance to reunite as teammates on the court again, but at the very least, they were on good terms by the time the Black Mamba’s career ended.

They were seen in each other’s milestone ceremonies — such as when Shaq attended Kobe’s last game or when Bryant was present at O’Neal’s statue event outside Crypto.com Arena.

The beef may have cost both players a chance to win more championships, but it also proved that they could succeed without each other.