Shaquille O'Neal Reveals How He Met Kobe Bryant for the First Time

Shaquille O’Neal is remembering his late teammate and friend, Kobe Bryant.

The 48-year-old NBA star made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night (June 25).

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Shaquille O’Neal

During his appearance, Shaq told the story of when he first met Kobe before they played together on the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Actually, Kobe reminded me of this story. I was in Orlando, and him and his family came into the locker room and he asked Penny [Hardaway] for an autograph,” he explained.

“I guess Penny kind of blew him off or whatever, I’m not sure — this is what Kobe was telling me. And then he said he came up to me, and I was real nice to him…I never knew that until he told me one day, like this rookie, ‘You remember me?’ He was like ‘I came in the locker room.’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that was you.’”

“I realized what I loved about him early on was he wanted the spot. He wanted to be the best,” he went on to say.

Shaq recently revealed what he tells his sons about the police.

Watch Shaquille O’Neal tell his story…