Tuesday night the Los Angeles Lakers will honor one of the franchises and one of the greatest centers of all time, Shaquille O'Neal, by retiring his jersey before the game against the Dallas Mavericks.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Shaq will become the ninth Laker to have his jersey retired when his No. 34 is hung in the Staples Center rafters Tuesday night. Others honored include: Wilt Chamberlain (13), Elgin Baylor (22), Gail Goodrich (25), Magic Johnson (32), Kareem Abdul-Jabaar (33), James Worthy (42), Jerry West (44) and Jamaal Wilkes (52), who are all in the Hall of Fame.
Shaq was a part of a Laker team that saw three back-to-back championships, and even though he had differences with former teammate Kobe Bryant at the time, the two are arguably one of best on court duos to every play in the NBA.
Shaq finished his career with four NBA titles, winning his final one with the Miami Heat in 2006. However, though four titles are impressive for anybody, former teammate Bryant won't let the big man live down the fact that he has one more title than he does.
"I always remind him every time I see him," Bryant, who's won five championships with the Lakers, told Yahoo! Sports. "I saw him after the All-Star Game and said, 'How you doing, 'Four' ?' He said, 'Oh, you [expletive].' [Our relationship is] really good now. We have such a mutual respect for each other."
O'Neal averaged 27 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.5 blocks per game in 514 regular-season contests with the Lakers.
According to the L.A. Times, Shaq has also recently brought some clarifications to why he's been overtly critical of new Lakers center Dwight Howard.
"I love Dwight and I see his potential. Hopefully when I say these things he gets mad," O'Neal said in an interview. "Just think about it. At the dunk contest, he dunked on that thing when it was 15 feet. Remember that? OK, so why can't you back people down [in the post]? Because if you think I didn't play against great centers, he's not playing against nobody, you know what I mean?
"So he should be able to back people down and jump-hook them to death. That's why I envision in him as a player."
O'Neal added he received the same treatment from former Lakers when he was playing, even when he was playing good.
"Same thing Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] did to me, the same thing Wilt [Chamberlain] did to me," O'Neal said. "I can remember one time reading an article and I'm averaging 37 [points] in the playoffs and we lose and somebody asks Kareem, 'Hey, what do you think about Shaq? He's a great player.' And Kareem says, 'Yeah, he's OK, but he hasn't won any championships.' I didn't respond, I didn't cry, I just stepped up and got to the next level. So I'm always going to stay on [Howard] because I actually see him being one of the best Lakers ever if he steps up."
Shaq also listed out a few things Howard can do in order for him to be less critical of him.
"Right now he's averaging 16 points. From one big man to another, that's not enough," O'Neal said. "He should average 28. He should probably get like three shots a quarter. He should get four points a quarter, there goes 16 points right there. Now you need to get me four offensive rebounds and put them back, there goes another eight points. And when he gets to the free-throw line 10 times, I need you to make five. That's [29] points right there. That's how my system works. My system was seven points a quarter. If I didn't give people 28 and 10, I felt like a failure. I was getting doubled, fronted and backed and all that. He's not getting any of that. So he needs to step up and really, really dominate."
The Lakers take on the Mavericks Tuesday night at 10:30.
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