Shaquille O’Neal during his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers was an untamable beast. He had everything anyone could ever want. He was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, living in Hollywood, and getting paid millions of dollars every season.
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Moreover, Shaq also won 3 of his 4 championships with this franchise. One would think that after receiving all of this, he would be a little more grateful to the owner, but it is Shaq we are talking about.
Shaq, as mentioned earlier, was wild. No one could control him. Not Jerry West, not Jerry Buss, not Phil Jackson, and definitely not Kobe Bryant.
But even by his own standards, Shaquille O’Neal once crossed the line when he disrespected Jerry Buss during a game.
Shaquille O’Neal asked Jerry Buss to pay him
In his book Three-Ring Circus, Jeff Pearlman attempted to detail the history of the 2000s Lakers dynasty. He wrote of the time Shaq was irritated because the Lakers weren’t giving him a three-year contract extension worth $100 million.
In his irritation, during a game against the Nuggets, he blocked a shot, pointed at Buss, and inquired if the owner was ready to pay him. In the aftermath, Buss maintained that he wasn’t bothered by O’Neal’s actions. However, in reality, he was indeed affected by his player’s actions.
Jeff Pearlman wrote: “O’Neal was fed up with the team’s unwillingness to give him a three-year extension that would afford him more than $100 million, and after blocking a Mike Dunleavy shot in an October 7 exhibition against the Nuggets, he turned toward the Laker bench and Jerry Buss and shouted, “Now you gonna pay me?” Later, after spotting reporters in the arena’s hallways, he rubbed his fingers together and yelped, “Show me the money! Show me the money!” “It was disrespectful,” said Black. “We had a lot of inquiries, people wanting to know what was our comment, what was Dr. Buss’ comment to him doing that. Dr. Buss said publicly it didn’t bother him at all. We declined to comment as an organization and tried to downplay it as much as possible. But it did bother Dr. Buss.”
Jerry Buss traded Shaq to Miami
Perhaps Shaq’s attitude was too much for Jerry Buss. The ensuing feud between him and Kobe fueled the owner’s need to trade Shaq.
He finally did trade the 7ft 1″ center in 2004. O’Neal went to Miami to play alongside Dwyane Wade. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant was handed the keys to the gold and purples.
