There are certain arenas in the NBA in which the vibe and feel of games, especially high stakes ones, are just different. In the minds of many, Madison Square Garden in New York City is at the top of that list and is widely referred to as “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
But Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal recently pushed back on that idea during the start of a recent episode of NBA Tip-Off during the Eastern Conference Finals.
“What a great stage, huh? The Mecca,” host Ernie Johnson said during an aerial shot of Madison Square Garden to kick off the show. “The World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden.”
O’Neal would immediately respond, however, with, “Second-most famous” prompting Johnson to then ask the big man what is the most famous arena.
“Well, there’s three that’s up for debate. Boston’s arena and of course my L.A. arena,” O’Neal said.
Charles Barkley would, perhaps surprisingly, agree with O’Neal. “I’m actually with Shaq. You just can’t call y’all the No. 1 arena in the world.”
However, native New Yorker Kenny Smith would disagree. O’Neal and Barkley would further specify that they were considering the old Boston Garden, not the new TD Garden. The Lakers legend would then name The Forum as the L.A. arena before adding, “But it transferred to the Staples Center,” following Smith’s response of that the arena doesn’t exist anymore.
Of course, The Forum is still an arena that is used for other sporting events and concerts, but has not been the home of an NBA team since 2000. The Staples Center is now the Crypto.com Arena and with the Lakers remaining the premier franchise in the NBA, and having won six NBA Championships since the building opened, it can be considered at or near the top of the list, even if it doesn’t have the long-term history of an arena like Madison Square Garden.
With the Knicks advancing to their first NBA Finals since 1999, Madison Square Garden will be front and center for the basketball world and the fans will have their opportunity to show why it remains the most storied arena in the world.
Lakers’ LeBron James reportedly not willing to take massive pay cut to sign elsewhere
LeBron James has been the superstar getting fans to fill the Crypto.com Arena over the past few years, not to mention every arena around the league. Whether James will return to the Lakers this offseason is unclear, but he reportedly is not willing to take a huge pay cut to sign elsewhere.
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