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Los Angeles Lakers: Top 30 greatest players of all-time

By Ben Beecken

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts in the first half while taking on the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on April 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts in the first half while taking on the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on April 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal
Mandatory Credit: Jamie Squire /Allsport /

20. . Center. Los Angeles Lakers. Shaquille O'Neal. 5. player

  • 8 seasons with Lakers (1996-2004)
  • Averaged 27 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game
  • 7x All-Star, 1x MVP, 3x NBA champion with Lakers

Shaquille O’Neal is another all-time NBA great, and while he spent the prime of his career with the Lakers, he won a ring elsewhere and had numerous All-Star appearances in other jerseys, and those don’t factor in here. But even if we’re only considering the Laker years of Shaq’s career … it was still mightily impressive.

O’Neal spent the first four years of his career with the upstart Orlando Magic. With the way that rookie contracts were handled back in the mid-1990s, O’Neal opted to leave the Magic Kingdom for Hollywood, landing a massive deal in free agency.

Still just 24 years old in 1996, Shaq teamed up with 18-year-old rookie Kobe Bryant to win 56 games in the West, losing in the second round of the playoffs. After being swept in the Western Conference Finals by Utah the following year and losing in the second round in 1999, Phil Jackson was brought in to be the Lakers’ head coach.

The Lakers, who were already trending upwards with two megastars, won three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002. Shaq was the leading scorer on all three of the title-winning teams, averaging a double-double each year with the L.A. offense running through him.

There were all kinds of rumors regarding O’Neal’s relationship with Bryant, of course, with enough tension existing that the Lakers were apparently about to trade Kobe to the Bulls shortly after the run of back-to-back-to-back titles. That didn’t happen, and Shaq was shipped to Miami in the summer of 2004 instead.

O’Neal won another title in Miami and was named to three more All-Star teams as a member of the Heat. He made one final All_Star appearance with the Suns as a 36-year-old in 2009, and finished his career in Boston in 2011.

O’Neal was the most dominant player in the game for a long stretch, and many folks forget that he was actually the Lakers’ leading scorer, even with Kobe Bryant in the fold and taking a ton of shots. The fact that he’s fifth on this list speaks to just how stacked Lakers history is with Hall of Famers…

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