Shaq on LeBron's legacy: 'LeBron's book is already set'
We are on the verge of the Summer of LeBron James: Part III, as the Cavs superstar is set to opt out of his contract and become a free agent just as he did in 2010 and 2014.
While the odds seem to favor James leaving Cleveland, again, and hooking up with a team that can help him get his fourth ring, a current member of the four-ring club doesn’t want to see LeBron chasing after titles.
Shaquille O’Neal won his fourth title at the age of 34 and then spent his final five NBA seasons playing for four different teams. He admitted he was ring chasing and he doesn’t want to see James do the same.
“My problem toward the end of my career was I was trying to shut everybody up and I was greedy [for more rings],” O’Neal told ESPN on Friday. “After I got to three [titles], everybody was saying I couldn’t get another. So I got four. After I got the fourth, they were saying I couldn’t get another one. So I was trying to make quick stops to get it. Phoenix, Cleveland, Boston.”
Shaq spent a little more than one season with Phoenix, then one year playing alongside James in Cleveland and finished out his career with one season in Boston.
He only won two playoff series over that span but never reached the conference finals. He believed at the time that he needed to add to his legacy by winning more rings. But in hindsight, O’Neill says his legacy was already set by then and James’ is as well, no matter what happens going forward.
“Somebody told me a long time ago — they said your book is already set [before the later stages of your career]. You can add index pages toward the end, but your book is already set. So LeBron’s book is already set,” O’Neal said.
“He done already passed up legends; he done already made his mark — he has three rings. His mentality now is probably: I want to get four before Steph [Curry] does. That’s probably his mentality now. But if I was him, I wouldn’t be trying to get four, five and six because it ain’t going to matter. It’s just something else to talk about, something else to add to the pages. He’s a legend, talked about as who is the best between he and Michael Jordan, so he’s set.”
With all due respect to Steph Curry, James doesn’t compare himself to him or even his teammate, Kevin Durant.
But the second name that Shaq mentioned is who LeBron compares himself to as he admitted it two years ago after winning his third title.
“My motivation,” James said to Sports Illustrated in 2016, “is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago.
“My career is totally different than Michael Jordan’s. What I’ve gone through is totally different than what he went through. What he did was unbelievable, and I watched it unfold. I looked up to him so much. I think it’s cool to put myself in position to be one of those great players, but if I can ever put myself in position to be the greatest player, that would be something extraordinary.”
From an individual standpoint, James has done just about everything he can do to reach Jordan’s level. But he knows his contemporaries in the NBA, such as Kobe Bryant, believe rings are all that matters and he’s only halfway to Jordan’s six.
We’ll find out in the coming weeks if LeBron’s chase for his next ring remains in Cleveland or heads elsewhere.
With a looming player option, James has four options in front of him, two of which will keep him a Cavalier. He can opt into his player option and return to Cleveland, or he can opt out but sign a new deal with the Cavs as a free agent.
The other options are James leaving as a free agent after opting out, or opting into the last year of his deal and then requesting a trade as Chris Paul did last summer.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
