“Rookie, you better do what I say”: When Shaquille O’Neal taught a Lakers’ rookie a lesson for not following his orders off-the-court

Lakers’ legend Shaquille O’Neal once taught rookie Shea Seals a lesson for not listening to him, taught him about following orders

When one thinks of the name Shaquille O’Neal, the very first image that comes to mind is a tall, dominating figure. Shaq is considered as one of the most dominant big men in the NBA history, and for good reason. The 4x NBA Champion was a monster on the court, but off the court, he was a different person altogether.

While there are a lot of stories about Shaq and his generosity and being a mentor, there are a lot of instances of Shaq being a troll too. He loved pranks, and hazing rookies was one of his favorite things to do. When he was with the Suns, he made the then-rookie Goran Dragic carry a broken keyboard for every away game. He also made Dragic buy and bring 24 donuts for each home game.

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Shaquille O’Neal taught Shea Seals a life-long lesson

Back in the 1997-98 season, Shaquille O’Neal was with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a dominant figure on the court, and was proving his worth as the best player on the team. At the same time, the Lakers had an undrafted rookie out of Tulsa named Shea Seals. Seals had a very short playing career, lasting one season, which saw him play 4 games, and score a total of 4 points.

However, as a rookie, Shea made the mistake of disobeying Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq asked the rookie to get him a Gatorade, which he did not do. Shaq taught him a lesson in the way he knows best. Recalling the incident,

A few hours later, Seals emerged from the shower. Upon returning to his locker, he was surprised to see that his suit had vanished. “Rudy,” he said to [Lakers equipment manager Rudy] Garciduenas, “where’d my clothing go?”

He shrugged.

Seals did a one-man hunt through the room. “Finally,” he said. “Rudy grabs my suit out of the bottom of a dirty locker with a bunch of shoes. It was dirty and wrinkled, and smelled really bad.”

When O’Neal spotted Seals, he said, “Do what I say,” and walked off.

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Safe to say, that was the last time Shea ignored what Shaq asked of him.