Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest players ever. The former 7ft 1″ center dominated the league and NBA honored him for his excellence even as he was still a player. Shaq was named among the top 50 players of the game during NBA’s 50th anniversary. However, Jerry West, the Lakers GM then, instructed Shaq to miss the ceremony. Diesel, putting the team’s wishes above his own, missed it only to receive hate from fans.
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Shaquille O’Neal left Orlando and joined the Lakers in 1996. However, after just playing 46 games, O’Neal suffered a knee injury that put him out of action for 2 months.
During the same time, the NBA released its list of the top 50 players in the history of the game, and Shaq was named as one of them. The former superstar, unfortunately, had to miss it.
Why did Shaquille O’Neal miss the NBA’s 50th anniversary
After the injury, Jerry West was worried that traveling for the NBA’s anniversary would prove detrimental to Shaq’s recovery. So, he instructed the big man to stay away from it.
In his book Shaq Uncut, O’Neal wrote about the incident in quite a lot of detail. He also wrote how the entire hate he received from the NBA community was unjust.
Shaq: “Because I had the knee injury and I was in a cast, and flying would have caused it to swell, I got strict orders from Jerry West not to go. He said, “Shaquille, you have to do what’s best for the Lakers, and we can’t afford to aggravate that injury any further.” That sounded right to me. The only way I could have possibly done it was if I flew privately, and the Lakers weren’t going to sign off on that. Jerry really didn’t want me pushing my injury. Jerry was also chosen as one of the top fifty players of all time, but he didn’t go, either. I didn’t think it was a big deal, but all of a sudden people are saying, “Who does Shaq think he is? Why didn’t he go?” Instead of stopping for a minute and realizing I was injured they all said, “Shaq’s arrogant.”
O’Neal had a deep respect for Jerry West
Shaquille O’Neal mentioned Jerry West in his book often. He respected the Lakers legend a lot and considered him the greatest GM in history.
West was the man who actually got Shaq the Lakers deal. When Orlando had clearly showcased their reference for Penny Hardaway, it was West who told O’Neal what he meant. No wonder the big man had so much respect for Mr. Logo.
