Former teammates: Lakers O Neal + Kobe > Magic O Neal + Penns Hardaway s injury affected him

September 5th News Former Lakers player Brian Shaw talked about O'Neal and Kobe on Byron Scott's podcast show Byron Scott 's FastBreak.

Talking about the Lakers' OK combination PK Magic "Penny" Hardaway and O'Neal, Shaw said: "I had to choose the OK combination because their achievements and the height they achieved in their careers were obviously better. This is by no means disrespectful to Penny. Young O'Neal and Penny are both excellent players. Penny could have become a superstar, but unfortunately, he was injured in Orlando and was eager to come back, resulting in the injury not being properly handled. From then on, his condition was not as good as before. Penny is 2.03 meters tall, has excellent feel, ball control and vision, has a very high IQ for basketball, and he has almost no weaknesses in his game. He was also very young at the time, but unfortunately that injury made him off track. So I still have to choose O'Neal and Kobe."

Since 1997, knee injuries have been bothering Hardaway.

In 1995, O'Neal and Hardaway led the Magic to the finals for the first time, but were swept by the Rockets; and the Lakers achieved three consecutive championships during the OK combination.