Shaquille O’Neal recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and he was faced with the difficult task of putting together his all-time Lakers starting five.
“Magic Johnson at the one. Kobe at the two. Jerry West at the three. Big Game James at the four. And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not the five, I am. Sorry, Kareem.”
A starting five consisting of Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, James Worthy and O’Neal would be pretty unstoppable, as four of them are already in the Hall of Fame and Bryant is soon to join them.
O’Neal took a subtle shot at Abdul-Jabbar by saying he would put himself in the starting five over him, but it was all in good fun as either of them are worthy of taking that starting center spot.
With so many great players suiting up in the purple and gold in the organization’s history, there are so many players like Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and George Mikan that have a case to be in the all-time starting five. Perhaps no player in the history of the league was as dominant as O’Neal though, so it makes sense that he went with himself over the other great Lakers big men.
The Los Angeles Lakers franchise is one of the most historic in all of sports, winning 16 NBA Championships that featured many Hall of Fame and All-Star caliber players. Shaquille O’Neal was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year.
