Shaquille O'Neal Would've Joined LeBron James Model By Joining A Super Team
There have been some NBA greats of the past who have blamed LeBron James for the super team concept.
James joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat in 2010 was met with a lot of dislike. But at least one former player from the 1990s thinks he would have done the same if it were more acceptable back then.
Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal said he would've considered joining Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls during the early portion of his career. He spoke of it on a recent edition of The Big Podcast With Shaq.
"If we knew that was acceptable, probably a lot of us would have switched up," O'Neal said. "If I knew that was acceptable I would have just went to Chicago. If I knew that was acceptable, I would have went and played with the Spurs. If I knew that was okay I would have went and played with a team that was almost there, like Utah."
O'Neal said players back in the day never thought about taking that route. After James, Kevin Durant joined Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson with the Golden State Warriors. It has become a trend since.
"We always thought like, 'No, you're the man. You the guy. You gotta get it done. You gotta say, you gotta make trades, you got to do this. You can't (leave)' And I think he (Kevin Durant) did it before it was acceptable," O'Neal said. "It's acceptable now, people just 'I want to go here, I want to do this. Oh hey, you play on this team, you play on this team, let's get on this team and create a Big Three. But again, if I knew that was acceptable, I just would have went and played with Mike [Jordan]."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
