Retired basketball star Shaquille O’Neal revealed that he refurbished Kobe Bryant’s high school car for the parents of his deceased former teammate.
Per PEOPLE, O’Neal opened up about his kind gesture to Bryant’s parents on what marked the deceased NBA star’s 47th birthday. Bryant was born on August 23. The video of O’Neal, 53, surprising Bryant’s mother, Pamela Bryant, was posted by Effortless Motors.
“I was over there one day, and I was like, ‘What are you doing with this car?’ and [Joe] is like, ‘That’s Kobe’s old high school car,’ so I promised the dad I would fix it up, and before he passed away, I went and picked it up,” Bryant told the news outlet.
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O’Neal stated that he hoped he could have dropped the car off when Bryant’s father was alive and seen his reaction. Bryant’s father, Joe Bryant, died on July 15, 2024. “But we just fixed it up and refurbished it free of charge,” the NBA champion said.
O’Neal, however, stated that he was not around when the car was presented because he had to go to an emergency room at the time. “But everything’s fine,” he said.
In a previous interview with the news outlet, O’Neal opened up about his relationship with Bryant’s family. “Just about respect,” he said, adding that he was making sure Bryant’s family was well taken care of.
“I’m always going to respect everybody’s mother and everybody’s father. They live in Vegas. I’m in Vegas. I’m close with his sisters. I just call to check on them. Their mom has been through a lot in a couple of years, and that takes toll, and sometimes you just need somebody to just call to check on you,” he said.
O’Neal also said that he was aware of “what it feels like” with the passing of Pamela’s son, but admitted that he doesn’t know “what it feels like to lose a son and a husband, so I’m sure she has a lot of pain that she’s dealing with.”
O’Neal, however, said that he gets in touch with Pamela every month. “I just try to make her smile. I just try to do whatever I can because I know it’s tough,” the former Los Angeles Lakers star said.
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