Life is about striking a balance between work and fun, and Shaquille O’Neal loves to have fun, even if it’s time to work. The Diesel has his priorities set straight and an instance from 1998, portrays that perfectly. Back then ahead of their match-up against Seatle Supersonics, Shaq and six of his other Laker teammates had an idea, which would end up blowing up in their faces.
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A day before the highly anticipated Western Conference Semi-Finals, Shaquille O’Neal and six other Lakers would sneak off to have some fun at Ricks. Ricks was a popular club back in the 90s, a place where drugs and prostitution ran rampant.
According to the manager of the joint, several seven-foot men had come into the facility that evening, buying dances for themselves(reported to Jean Godden of the Seatle Times). The men would reportedly spend over $2000 on dances, even deciding to sign autographs for fans who were also present.
Dominique Weitzel, a fan who was also present at the establishment on the said evening, did confirm that he had met some NBA stars but refused to take the names of the players. In his book Shaq Uncut, the Big Fella recalls Weitzel’s statement,
” I don’t want to throw my boys under the bus.”
Godden, who was assigned to the story by the Seattle Times, was unsure as to why Weitzel would choose not to out the Lakers players. Concluding that, Weitzel was most probably trying to protect Shaq, as the big man had just signed a large contract with Scholastic Inc.
The rumours on the streets would soon reach the Lakers locker room, where Coach Del Harris was furious. Unlike Phil( Phil Jackson), who was rather laid back in some instances, Harris loved running a tight ship and expected a certain amount of professionalism from his players, something that Shaq wasn’t too keen on following.
Shaquille O’Neal did the same in Miami
The Miami Heat has developed a ‘culture’, which stands synonymous with ‘hard work’ and ‘determination’. The ‘Heat Culture’ as many put it, seems to be a fabrication of the recent two decades, as according to Gilbert Arenas, the Heat Culture surely didn’t exist in the early 2000’s and 90’s.
In fact, during an episode of Gil’s Arenas, the Washington legend even exposed Shaq and the Heat for their exploits during that time. Talking about it further, Arenas said,
“In Dwyane Wade’s second year, they got Shaq, they didn’t win. And then they bring in, Antoine Walker, all the veterans, the club-heads. They were so good and talented. You look at that roster, 12 out of the 15 were lottery picks like they were so talented that they didn’t listen to that man [Riley],”
From the looks of it, Shaq didn’t change much after getting transferred to Miami. The Diesel seemed to have found a way to have his fun in Miami as well, even though Pat Riley reportedly spied on every one of his players. But with so much talent on the team, it was hard even for Riley to keep the band disciplined and playing to a single tune.
