Shaquille O'Neal is opening up about the loss of Kobe Bryant, emotionally describing the "sharp" pain he felt when he heard the news.
After Bryant was tragically killed along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash over the weekend, O'Neal spoke about the loss on TNT Tuesday night, describing how at first he held out hope that the news wasn't true.
"And then we found out it was confirmed," O'Neal said. "I haven't felt a pain that sharp in a while. ... I lost a little brother."
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O'Neal, who said he "hasn't been sleeping," described how hearing that Bryant's daughter was with him in the helicopter was the "final blow," choking up while observing that "a lot of times, we take stuff for granted." This loss, which comes after the death of O'Neal's sister in October, "definitely changes me," he said. The former Los Angeles Lakers star ultimately vowed to "take time and just call and say, 'I love you,'" because "you never know. Life is too short."
"I just wish I could be able to say one last thing to the people that we lost," he added. "Because once you're gone, you're gone forever, and we should never take stuff like that for granted." Watch O'Neal's emotional reflection below. Brendan Morrow
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