Daily Times

Shaquille O’Neal tearfully said Tuesday he never could have imagined anything like Kobe Bryant’s death, remembering his former teammate as a great player whose kids called him “Uncle Shaq.” “The fact that we lost probably the world´s greatest Laker, the world´s greatest basketball player is just – listen, people are going to say take your time and get better, but this is going to be hard for me,” O’Neal said. “I already don´t sleep anyway, but I´ll figure it out.” O’Neal’s comments came at the start of TNT’s pregame show, as he sat on the court at Staples Center along with the rest of the network’s studio team. TNT was supposed to televise a doubleheader, but the NBA canceled the Lakers-Clippers game that was scheduled to be the nightcap because the Lakers organization is still too devastated after the death of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a helicopter crash Sunday. O’Neal was working out with family members when he got the news and hoped it wasn’t true.