Shaquille O’Neal will end his career as a Boston Celtic. After months of speculation, O’Neal decided to sign with the Celtics for two years in a deal worth $1.4 million.
But as a former Los Angeles Laker great, O’Neal is committing treason by ending his career with the Lakers most hated foes. To die-hard Laker fans, O’Neal’s choice to join the Celtics is equivalent to Superman becoming an employee of Lex Luthor.
But will Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson take O’Neal to task for his decision and ridicule him like they did LeBron James?.
Last month, the NBA Hall of Famers blasted James for leaving Cleveland to join Dwyane Wade in Miami. Of course, James is currently in his prime and O’Neal only has about 20 more months of basketball left in his tank. But both James and Wade made a controversial sacrifice to put themselves closer to an NBA title.
O’Neal had the choice to sign with the Atlanta Hawks, but he picked the Celtics because he believed the team had a greater chance of going to the NBA Finals in 2011.
Could we imagine a scenario where Johnson would have played for the Cetics, Larry Bird for the Lakers, or Jordan wearing a Detroit Pistons uniform just to get another title near the end of their careers?
Johnson and Jordan called out James for his mishap, they should also criticize O’Neal for choosing to go green after experiencing the greatest years of his career wearing purple and gold. –a.r.