Shaquille O’Neal was such a monstrous force, that his rise to success was undeniable. From the first season, he took over the league. A 7ft 1″ center, his dominance in Orlando led to a big contract when he moved. The Los Angeles Lakers, under Jerry West’s instructions, signed Shaq for a whopping $120 million contract deal. The enormous amount of money got to O’Neal’s head and he felt offended in his first meeting with Lakers coach Del Harris.
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Diesel’s exit from Orlando had been messy. Though Shaquille O’Neal had become a global name, Magic had chosen Penny Hardaway over the big man. This perhaps hurt O’Neal’s pride.
However, the contract Jerry West offered him reinstated any ounce of lost ego. But upon his first meeting with Harris, things almost turned sour.
Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t keen on doing conditioning drills
In his 2011 book, Shaq Uncut, Shaquille O’Neal detailed meeting Del Harris for the first time. O’Neal’s bodyguard Jerome called him and informed him that the Lakers’ head coach wanted to see Shaq work out. This irritated the superstar.
O’Neal: “It’s my first season with the Lakers and I’ve just finished up with the Olympics in Atlanta and I get a call from my bodyguard, Jerome. He says, “You’ve got to come down and work out for Del Harris.” Del was the coach of the Lakers at that point. I said, “Work out? Why? For what?” Jerome said, “I guess he wants to see what you can do.” I’m thinking to myself, If you want to see what I can do, why don’t you replay the highlight reel of my first four years in the league? But I’m new, and I’ve just signed this big contract, so I’m going to do what they want.”
Del knew how much the gold and purple had agreed to pay Diesel. The coach obviously wanted to see up close how well $120 million played. His team had paid enough to get him in LA and Del wanted to assess his talent.
Del Harris pushed Shaq in the workout
In the book, Shaq detailed what happened during the workout. He claimed that Del Harris pushed him to his limit. Shaq confessed that though he wasn’t in the best shape of his life, he gave the conditioning drills his all.
Shaq: “Next thing I know Del starts putting me through all these conditioning drills. He’s got me running and jumping and dunking. He had me running stairs, suicides, all that stuff for about an hour and a half. I’m saying to myself, I just signed for over $100 million and I used to come to this town and bust Del
Harris’s team every night, and now I have to audition for this guy? But I didn’t say anything. I’m thinking that because I have all this other stuff going on he’s trying to see if I’m in shape or not.”
O’Neal was clearly offended by the whole thing. He thought it was beneath him to put on such a show. But fortunately, he chose to continue and prove to Del Harris that he meant business. And though Harris wouldn’t be there when it happened but Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers went on two win 3 championships together.
