Shaquille O’Neal enjoyed the prime of his career in Los Angeles, the dominant big man who is considered one of the greatest Lakers of all time. He won 3 championships with the team during the era that he and Kobe Bryant dominated the NBA, also winning 3 Finals MVPs and destroying the competition he came up against.
However, Shaq wasn’t drafted by the Lakers, and he didn’t even join the team till 1996 despite being drafted in 1992. O’Neal spent the first 4 years of his career with the Orlando Magic, even making it to the NBA Finals with the franchise, although he couldn’t win a title with them. Those teams in the 90s with Shaq and Penny Hardaway are some of the most underrated in franchise history.
And it seems that Shaq isn’t quite done with the Magic just yet, hinting at the fact that he would be interested in buying the franchise from the DeVos family. The DeVos family bought the franchise in 1991 and has owned it ever since. But Orlando hasn’t been competitive meaningfully for a decade now, which is what possibly led to this statement from O’Neal.
Shaquille O'Neal:
“Listen we still run [the Orlando Magic]… This message go out to the DeVos family, if you’re ready to sell… sell it to somebody who’s gonna take it to the next level, that’s us.”
(via The Big Podcast) pic.twitter.com/5r8YjMgaJO
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 26, 2022
“Listen we still run that franchise (Magic). If they wanna sell it to us, DeVos family, we’re ready to go right now… This message goes out to the DeVos family. If you’re ready to sell the Orlando Magic, sell it to somebody who’s gonna take it to the next level, that’s us.”
Former players trying to become part of ownership groups isn’t unheard of and Shaquille O’Neal likely has spoken to people that have expressed an interest in purchasing the Magic alongside him. The DeVos family has never shown much of an interest in selling the team, but the right offer from a franchise legend like Shaq might shake things up a little bit.
