If there was ever a time during the year where it would make total sense for Phil Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal to reunite, it would be now during the NBA Finals. Jackson and Shaq won three championships together during their time together with the Lakers.
On Monday, they teamed up to answer a bunch of questions from host Hannah Storm during an American Express event in New York City, and one of those questions led to Jackson telling a very, um, revealing story about Shaq. The story was about the time (or times?!) the 7-foot-1, 350-pound center lightened up the mood at a Lakers' practice by running out on to the court wearing nothing but sneakers.
"Well, you know, [a] number of times, he could crack a team up with humorous effects on the floor," Jackson said. "There were times when he shocked us all in a practice situation, especially when showed up nude with just his shoes on."
Whether that means Shaq did it once or multiple times is hard to tell. Then again, Shaq might have been on to something back then, considering the Lakers rattled off three straight titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
For his part, Shaq said he doesn't remember showing up at practice naked. But this isn't the first time a coach has mentioned him doing something like this. In 2014, former Suns coach Alvin Gentry revealed that Shaq used to get completely naked in front of Suns players and coaches in the locker room and wrestle with them. So from the sound of things, Jackson and the Lakers might have actually gotten off easy.
Fortunately, it looks like Shaq prefers to keep his clothes on these days when he wrestles his co-workers.
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