A weekend Instagram post from the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers has one of the team’s biggest names and superstars from the past a little – shall we say? – not happy.
The team’s new “infographic” shows a tiered-ranking of the Lakers players who – in the words of team officials – have had the biggest impact on the Lakers over the years. A quick check of the pic shows our man Shaq in the SECOND tier of “impact” players – alongside LeBron James and Jerry West (the LOGO!).
Top of the heap? Kobe, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic Johnson. So would we have swapped out one of those three and replaced them with Shaq? Probably not… but who’s to say there can only be those three at the top. Impact? If anyone had more than O’Neal, let us know….we’re pretty sure Shaq tops the list.
There’s no doubt that the arrival of LeBron James in LA put the team back on their winning course. The Lakers went from 6 straight years out of the playoffs and into the Finals and became champions (again) in 2020 (the “Bubble” season).
Of course it’s not all LeBron. Getting James allowed the Lakers to also make a deal for Anthony Davis and get into that win-today experience. James is nearing the end of his career (with Hollywood intentions for later?) and it’s looking like he’ll be retiring in the Lakers’ purple-and-gold.
As for Shaq, he didn’t come right out and diss LeBron for being on the same tier as he is, but he did do a quick ring-count, saying he had three Championship rings, while James has only one. Of course that’s with the Lakers… LeBron has other rings from other teams. Be we’re talking about the Lakers… right?
As for the players at the very top, All three of the players in the first tier were part of five NBA title teams for the Lakers, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson playing together during five title runs in the 1980s.
Of course, O’Neal played alongside the late Kobe Bryant when the Lakers won three titles. Bryant went on to lead the franchise to two additional championships after O’Neal and the Lakers parted ways.
O’Neal’s legacy with the Lakers is a memorable one and serves as just one of the countless reasons why he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
He’s the only Lakers center to win a scoring title, MVP and Finals MVP the same year. He dominated the league like no other Lakers legend in their time with the franchise.