When Dennis Rodman predicted Shaq's salary with Lakers in his book "Bad as I Wanna Be" - "Shaquille O'Neal is going to want $100 million"
Dennis Rodman once predicted Shaquille O'Neal's salary with the Lakers at a time when the NBA didn't give their players big checks. Before the current salary regulations under the CBA came into being, the league was a much different place when O'Neal was playing.
In Rodman's 1996 book titled "Bad as I Wanna Be," he talked about the league shifting into giving stars a big paycheck. That's now done for stars to remain on their current teams or get acquired by a new one.
"I think a lot of NBA teams use the salary cap as an excuse when a team wants to do something,” Rodman said in his book.
“It always seems to be able to do it. Larry Johnson is making $87 million over twelve years in Charlotte. That’s almost enough money to buy a team. Down the road, Shaquille O’Neal is going to want $100 million, and he’ll get it, all within the salary cap."
At the time, Charlotte was an up-and-coming organization in the NBA that was trying to make a name for itself. In the act of trying to build a franchise around Larry Johnson, he was given an $87 million contract by Charlotte. Johnson played five seasons in Charlotte and averaged 19.6 ppg (49.6% shooting, including 34.7% from 3-point range) and 9.2 rebounds.
This was the era in the NBA, where superstars were arriving left and right as the league was gaining prominent status internationally. Shaquille O'Neal, meanwhile, came into 1996 free agency after four seasons with the Orlando Magic. He ended up signing a massive $121 million deal with the LA Lakers for seven years.
Rodman ended up being right in a way. He saw the league bridging to a time where offering big contracts to NBA superstars would become the standard.
Shaquille O'Neal's career stats with LA Lakers
In Shaquille O'Neal's eight seasons with the LA Lakers, he averaged an incredible stat line of 27.0 ppg (57.5% shooting) and 11.8 rpg. He was a critical piece in bringing back championship status to Los Angeles after the era of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
O'Neal led the Lakers to three straight championships alongside the late Kobe Bryant. The tandem of O'Neal and Bryant was an overwhelming one-two punch that caused problems galore for the league at the height of their dominance.