LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Shaquille O'Neal paid various women hush money to keep quiet about sexual encounters, Kobe Bryant told law enforcement officers in Eagle, Colorado.
The allegation by Bryant was included in a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper reported on Wednesday that Bryant told a Colorado police officer "he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything" and already had paid up to one million dollars "for situations like this."
O'Neal responed by telling ESPN "He's the one buying love."
Colorado police officer Doug Winters said Bryant made the comment but there was no recording of it.
"He stated he, Bryant, treats a woman with respect, therefore they shouldn't say anything," Winters said in the report.
Perry Rogers, O'Neal's agent, described the statement as "undeserving of a response."
"This whole situation is ridiculous," O'Neal told ESPN.
"I never hang out with Kobe, I never hung around him. In the seven or eight years we were together, we were never together.
"So how this guy can think he knows anything about me or my business is funny. And one last thing -- I'm not the one buying love. He's the one buying love."
Bryant made the allegation while being questioned by police over a hotel worker's complaint that Bryant raped her.
Colorado prosecutors recently dropped the sexual assault charge against Bryant at the request of the woman, a former high school cheerleader.
The woman has filed a federal civil suit against Bryant, seeking unspecified damages for suffering and pain.