"Guy's going to be good but in a couple of years": Shaquille O'Neal reveals Jerry West convinced him to join LA by telling 'truth' about Kobe Bryant
The summer of 1996 was one of the best in the history of the LA Lakers, and Shaquille O'Neal was one of the reasons why.
The NBA legend decided to leave the Orlando Magic after four years and join the Lakers on a multi-year deal. Landing O'Neal was one of the greatest achievements of Jerry West's career as a Lakers' executive.
During the 1996 offseason, the Lakers moved Vlade Divac and signed O'Neal. They also brought Kobe Bryant via a trade from the Charlotte Hornets and drafted Derek Fisher.
All three were part of the Lakers' golden years in the early 2000s, but things weren't that easy early on. Jerry West, though, was confident in Bryant's championship pedigree, and this is what he told Shaquille O'Neal to convince him to sign with the 17-time NBA champions.
"When I was leaving Orlando, he brought me here and told me the truth," Shaquille O'Neal told Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson. "I would have a young team and a guy named Kobe. That guy’s going to be good, but in a couple of years, you’re going to have championships. It wasn’t no ‘get you this or get you that.’ Jerry’s not that type of guy."
Jerry West believed Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal would win championships with the Lakers
When he signed Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry West viewed him as the most dominant big man in Lakers' history since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had retired in 1989 after bringing five titles to Los Angeles.
The rest of the roster, though, wasn't good enough to win championships early on, as Kobe Bryant was still too young to lead the way. However, West, a Lakers legend himself, never had any doubts about the success of the O'Neal/Bryant duo.
"The first thing Jerry West did when I got there: He sat me down and he said, 'Look up.' As I look up, he says, 'Son, if you can come here and win multiple championships, your name will be up there one day,'" Shaquille O'Neal told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the "All The Smoke" podcast. "He said, 'It ain't gonna take long. I just signed this kid. You and him are gonna win a lot of championships."
"I can remember this vividly," O'Neal said while speaking about the "Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers" documentary. "I'm signing. As soon as I get signed, Mr. West said, ‘Hey, man, I just moved Vlade. I don't know how I got this kid. I got a kid named Kobe Bryant. You and him, we're going to get multiple championships.'
"I'm like 'Yeah, OK, whatever.' Because I'm looking at all the zeroes. But, yeah, he said that. He saw something in Kobe that nobody saw."
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal spent eight years together with the Lakers (1996-2004). They won the NBA championship three straight times (2000-2002) and created one of the best duos in league history.
However, they never got past their off-court issues and O'Neal moved to the Miami Heat in 2004. The legendary big man won another title in 2006, playing alongside Dwyane Wade, while Bryant claimed back-to-back titles with Pau Gasol (2009, 2010).
Following their retirements, both Shaquille O'Neal and the late Kobe Bryant referred to how dominant they would have been if they had overcome their off-court issues.