Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal revealed that he didn’t cheer for his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James when he won NBA titles with the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
James, a four-time champion, won two titles with the Miami Heat, forming the team’s Big 3 of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. He won a title with the Lakers in the 2019-20 season alongside Anthony Davis, defeating the Heat in the NBA’s Orlando, Fla. bubble.
James also has a title with the Cavs, which may be the most impressive in his NBA career. James and Kyrie Irving led the Cavs back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Golden State went 73-9 in the regular season in the 2015-16 campaign, an NBA record, making the Cavs’ comeback extremely impressive.
“When the Miami Heat won with D-Wade and LeBron, did you see me anywhere?” O’Neal said. “Did you see me in the celebration?”
O’Neal continued to show that he wasn’t rooting for James by talking about the title with the Lakers.
“When you saw LeBron win in the bubble, did you see me dancing, jumping up and down?” O’Neal said.
O’Neal explained why he didn’t celebrate those titles, even though he played for the Heat and Lakers during his own NBA career.
“My time is up,” O’Neal said. “I ain’t no basketball player. I did my time. I’m a retired FBI agent.”
O’Neal always loves to throw jokes in the mix, but it seems like he doesn’t care as much about who wins the NBA Finals now that he is removed from the game as a player.
The Hall of Famer last played in the NBA during the 2010-11 season for the Boston Celtics. He played for several teams in his career, including the Orlando Magic, Lakers, Heat, Cavaliers, Celtics and Phoenix Suns.
A 15-time All-Star and 14-time All-NBA selection, O’Neal is one of the greatest players in NBA history and accomplished a ton during his career, winning four NBA titles.
Even though he played one season with the Cavs, he didn’t claim that he wasn’t rooting for James during the 2016 Finals. However, given his attitude on the matter, it seems rather likely that he wasn’t much interested in that series either.
Despite having such an amazing career in the game of basketball, O’Neal appears to be content in putting that stage of his life behind him. He is still involved in the game, as he is an analyst for TNT.
