“I got $1.3M to Keep Shaquille O’Neal Out of Trouble”: Phil Jackson Assigned Bad Boy Pistons Vet Just One Job

This 4x NBA champ was the Udonis Haslem to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s first championship squad in 1999-00

The role of a veteran who cannot give you big minutes but be a vocal leader in a Championship contending team is as big as any other role player.

They might not be able to get points on the court, but they can tell younger players several ways to get their points when they are having a hard time.

Neither most of the coaches nor their assistants can keep an eye on each thing and come up with a solution for it because they haven’t been in that situation at all, or it’s been too long since they were.

Whether it’s Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Stephen Curry, all of them need those guys’ courtside. And it was John Salley for the Lakers’ duo during their first Championship run.

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John Salley had only one job in the Lakers’ 2000 championship success – make sure Shaquille O’Neal didn’t get into any trouble

It took Shaq and Kobe four years to win their first-ever championship after teaming up in 1996. And there were a lot of many things that built up to it, including some champion veteran presence in the team.

Salley and Ron Harper, both then-3x NBA champs, were in their roster and in their first year too when the Lakers won the 2000 Championship. While Harper was getting significant game time, 36-year-old, 6’11 Salley was just there as a mentor for the young ones.

The Bad Boy Pistons member talked about his role in that Lakers squad recently in an appearance on The Byron Scott Podcast.

It must have felt tremendous to witness Shaq and Kobe’s greatness budding in front of his eyes, while just a 4-years back he was playing basketball in Greece.

Quite well into his retirement, he got a call from Phil Jackson to come to help The Diesel and be that veteran leader of the team. AND getting paid $1.3M for it? blessing! The man is humble enough to accept it.

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Jokes aside, John must have been good at it in his time with the Bulls in Chicago in 1996, that’s the reason he got this job over several others who could’ve done it.