BRIAN Shaw won three consecutive NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers during the early 2000s.
But arguably the shooting guard's most important role on the team was acting as a peacemaker between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
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Shaw had retired from the NBA after the 2002-03 season when he was summoned by his team-mates to break up a looming bust-up between the two superstars.
The Lakers duo had been sniping at each other through the media and things reached boiling point when Kobe did an interview in which he called Shaq fat and out of shape.
"I had actually just retired. I was at home. And I get a call from Devin George first," Shaw told Fox Sports.
"He said, 'Hey Kobe said something about Shaq after the meeting after they told him not to say anything, and Shaq is pissed and he's going to beat Kobe's a** tomorrow.'
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"And then I got a call from Phil Jackson saying the same thing. So I jumped on a plane..."
When Shaw pulled into the players' parking lot at the practice facility, Shaq was waiting outside his car for Kobe.
"He looked at me and he said, 'What are you doing here?" Shaw said.
"And I said, 'I'm here to talk to you and to Kobe.'
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"He said, 'It ain't nothing you gonna say that's going to get in the way of this a**-whooping that Imma give him."
Shaw told Shaq to go inside the film room where he would bring in Kobe after he arrived.
"Kobe pulled up a little bit later. He said, 'What are you doing here?'" Shaw added.
"I said, 'Well, big fella is pissed off at you and what you said yesterday. I don't want you to get blindsided, so I'll tell you, he said he's going to whoop your a**.'
"And he said, 'Oh I'm scared.' And I said, 'Nah, I think you really should be scared. I haven't seen him like this before'."
Knowing that he could not physically restrain the seven-foot-one 325-pound Shaq if he went after Kobe, Shaw brought in Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Horace Grant as reinforcements as the two hashed it out.
"We all went into a room with Kobe and Shaq and they sat on opposite ends," Shaw said.
"And I was kind of the host of the show, I guess. And let them air out what their problems were with each other...
"When it was all said and done, it ended up being peaceful."
Shaq and Kobe put their differences aside and the Lakers went on to reach the 2004 NBA Finals.
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But they were swept by the Detroit Pistons and Shaq was shipped out to the Miami Heat.
Shaw later moved into coaching and is now an assistant with the LA Clippers.
