Before the legendary athletes were friends, Shaquille O'Neal was a bit envious of David Beckham!

在这两位传奇运动员成为朋友之前，沙奎尔·奥尼尔对大卫·贝克汉姆有点嫉妒!

The retired basketball star, 51, and the soccer player, 48, attended the Sports Illustrated-hosted Club SI party at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday — where O'Neal joked that he once had a one-sided rivalry with Beckham.

这位51岁的退役篮球明星和48岁的足球运动员周六出席了由《体育画报》主办的拉斯维加斯大奖赛SI俱乐部派对，在那里奥尼尔开玩笑说他曾经和贝克汉姆有过一边倒的竞争。

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE at the Formula 1 (F1) racing event, O'Neal joked that he was once "jealous" of Beckham but now that he knows the soccer star — and his family — well, he thinks he's a "great guy."

在F1比赛现场接受《人物》杂志独家采访时，奥尼尔开玩笑说，他曾经“嫉妒”贝克汉姆，但现在他了解了这位足球明星——以及他的家人——他认为贝克汉姆是一个“很棒的人”。

"I was always jealous of him," the NBA legend tells PEOPLE, explaining that it was "professional jealousy," because he "wanted to be the highest-paid athlete ever," and at the time Beckham, whom O'Neal didn't know, was a big earner.

“我一直很嫉妒他，”这位NBA传奇人物告诉《人物》杂志，并解释说这是“职业上的嫉妒”，因为他“想成为有史以来收入最高的运动员”，而当时奥尼尔不认识的贝克汉姆是一个大富翁。

Once the legendary players became acquainted, however, O'Neal changed his tune.

然而，一旦这两位传奇球员熟悉起来，奥尼尔就改变了他的态度。

"And then I finally met him and he was a cool guy,” he says. “And if you never saw his documentary [Netflix’s Beckham], you should watch it. I never knew he had to go through all that too, but it just shows you how great he is, how he persevered through all that stuff.”

“后来我终于见到了他，他是个很酷的人，”他说。如果你从未看过他的纪录片(Netflix的《贝克汉姆》)，你应该看看。我从来不知道他也要经历这一切，但这只是向你展示了他有多伟大，他是如何坚持下来的。”

He continues, "I know his wife, I know his kids, and again, it's just, even though I'm the Shaq, I'm not Shaq, I'm just a regular person. So the fact that I have David Beckham's number, Tom Brady's number on my phone ... [it] doesn't get any bigger than that."

他继续说道:“我了解他的妻子，我了解他的孩子，再说一次，即使我是沙克，我也不是沙克，我只是一个普通人。所以我手机里有大卫·贝克汉姆的号码，汤姆·布雷迪的号码……没有比这更大的了。”