Shaquille O’Neal quickly reacted to the Los Angeles Lakers’ tier hierarchy that shows him on tier 2. The Big Diesel was part of the last team to three-peat in the league, dominating everybody from 2000 through 2002.
He became the most dominant big man in the association at that time, creating one of the best duos the NBA has ever seen alongside Kobe Bryant. However, while Kobe is part of the top tier, O’Neal is one spot behind him, which didn’t sit well with the 4x NBA champion.
True to his style, Shaq took to social media to express his opinion. He disagreed with his position on this pyramid. Based on the impact on the team, Kobe, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic Johnson are top-tier. Meanwhile, Shaq is tied with LeBron James and Jerry West one tier below.
O’Neal wasn’t having any of that and a lot of fans backed him up on this. He deserved better given all the things he gave to the Lakers.
You always will be met with criticism when you try to rank players. That takes another dimension when you’re talking about a historic franchise like the Lakers. They have had some of the greatest players to ever do it on their roster, which makes it challenging to rank them.
As Shaq and his post showed, fans will always have something to say about this. Yet, knowing how much the center gave to the Lakers, taking them to dominate the league for three straight seasons after several years of struggles, you have to admit that he deserved better than that.
Maybe Magic, Kobe and Kareem played more there than Shaq, but this guy took the Lakers to the next level, and perhaps they wouldn’t have 17 titles right now if it wasn’t for the big fella.
