Winning an NBA Championship is a feeling that cannot be described. It can only be experienced. So when Mitch Richmond won his first and only title as a member of the 2002 Los Angeles Lakers, it was pure magic. That was until he missed out on taking home the game ball, thanks to Shaquille O’Neal and Rick Fox.
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Richmond, a six-time NBA All-Star, shared this funny tale during his recent appearance on Byron Scott’s Fast Break. He was subbed into the game in the final moments after Shaquille O’Neal convinced head coach Phil Jackson to let him get a few minutes on the court.
For Richmond, it was the cherry on top of the cake. He even managed to score, just moments before the game ended. As the final buzzer sounded, Richmond still had the ball in his hands. But a seemingly kind gesture from Shaq caused him to lose it, and Fox, who had been lurking nearby, was ready to snatch the ball for himself.
“First off, Shaq ended up talking to Phil and was like, ‘Yo, man, put him in the game. You tripping, man. Put the dude in the game, man.’ He puts me in the game. I end up getting a bucket,” stated Richmond with a big smile on his face.
“Robert Horry brings the ball over to me, and as he brings the ball over to me, the game is over. Shaq comes over and gives me a big hug. As Shaq gives me a big hug, I got the ball right here. Shaq’s elbow or something hits the ball, and I was like, ‘Aw.’ He’s still hugging me and the ball is out,” he added.
As excited as Richmond was, he clearly wanted to keep the game ball, but because it got knocked out, it was picked up by one of his teammates, one whom he hounds to this day to get the ball back. “You know who picks it up?” he rhetorically asked. “Rick Fox comes and runs and picks up the ball and runs to the locker room.”
“I tell Rick every time, ‘I want to kill you.’ He’s like, ‘Man, you want that ball? I’ll send it to you.’ You been saying that s*** for 15 years.”
You could tell Mitch wasn’t too serious about the whole situation, as he and the show hosts were all laughing while he recounted how he missed out on owning that piece of history. That said, it wouldn’t be the first time Shaq did something that made his life just a little bit harder.
Shaq once pulled Richmond over as law enforcement before Lakers’ practice
Later in the same podcast, Richmond was asked if he had any stories about O’Neal from their time together as teammates. He did have one in mind, and it involved the four-time champion’s well-known prankster persona.
Mitch recalled a time that same championship year (2002) when he was running a little late for practice. “I’m driving and I’m kind of a little late for practice. The practice ain’t start, I’m just late for getting there.”
Richmond clearly isn’t someone who likes to break his routine. Just moments later, he shared that he was speeding to get to the arena on time when he got pulled over by law enforcement. “I’m flying. I get pulled over, bro. Now I’m like, I’m looking in my glove compartment to get my stuff. Somebody hit on my window. I didn’t look back. I just saw that it was a car; it wasn’t a police car, it was something private. They had the lights up,” he stated.
It’s probably not a huge surprise as to who the cop was. “It was Shaq. I said, ‘Shaq, man, we gonna be late for practice.’ ‘License and registration.’ I’m like, ‘Come on, dawg, what you doing?’ ‘Excuse me,’ and then he ran my plates.”
At this point, the entire panel was dying of laughter, Richmond included. Naturally, the basketball legend wasn’t given a ticket, nor did he hold any grudges against the Los Angeles Lakers legend for wasting more of his time. And how could he?
Shaq gave him a hilarious story, and probably hundreds more, to retell on podcasts for the rest of his life. That’s the double-edged sword of being associated with Shaq. He’ll keep you laughing, but every now and then, you’ll end up in the path of his wild antics.
