LA Lakers owner Jeanie Buss recalls the episode of trading Shaquille O’Neal, narrating the conversation between Dr. Jerry Buss and Phil Jackson.
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It won’t be wrong to call the LA Lakers one of the most iconic franchises in the NBA. The purple and gold have the most no. of championships, tied with the Boston Celtics at seventeen. The Jeanie Buss organization is 3rd richest team in the league, with a $5.5 billion net worth.
While the team is struggling currently, it continues to be amongst players’ favorite destinations to play. Given the location being LA, the Lakers get a good dose of Hollywood attention, with some of the biggest names attending its games. Despite Lakers Nation’s disapproval, the home arena was recently renamed Crypto.com from Staples Center.
Since relocating to LA in 1960, the Lakers have witnessed the best in the business don the purple and gold, including legends like Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.
During a recent appearance on Sirius XM NBA Radio, Jeanie Buss shared a couple of behind the scene moments of the Lakers organization, revealing decisions they could have avoided.
Jeanie Buss admits trading Shaquille O’Neal was hard.
Shaquille O’Neal and the LA Lakers went from being the perfect marriage to an ugly divorce. The Big Diesel had his best years in LA, winning three titles via 3-peat and being the Finals MVP each time. His pairing with the late Kobe Bryant made them one of the most unstoppable duos.
However, post his 8-year run with the franchise, Shaq got traded to the Miami Heat. According to reports, the discord between the seven-foot center and Kobe was the reason behind this. Rumors suggested the Diesel had lost the drive to compete, not paying attention to his health.
Former Lakers assistant coach Texas Winter had revealed that Shaq’s demands were impossible to meet. At the time, Jeanie’s dad Dr. Jerry Buss was heading the Lakers operations. In conclusion, the front office had no choice but to ship the seven-foot Shaq to Miami.
In the clip below, current Lakers owner Jeanie Buss addresses the O’Neal trade, adding how head coach Phil Jackson was in for a surprise too.
Fortunately for Phil, he was called back after a year in 2005, guiding the Lakers to back-to-back chips in 2009-10. On the other hand, the organization honored Shaq with a statue outside the home arena.
Having built a net worth of $500 million, Jeanie concluded how ultimately one had to do what was best for the organization.
