Shaquille O’Neal Says They Didn't Need Chemistry To Win Championships, Addresses 'Naked' Practice Rumor

2. Shaquille O’Neal — The Big Diesel was a terror for the Lakers for eight seasons, and won three titles for the team. O’Neal’s Most Valuable Player season in the 1999-2000 was among the greatest seasons of any NBA player in the modern era. With a larger-than-life personality, “Shaq” was beloved by Lakers’ fans. Reuters

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal has claimed that being close outside the basketball court doesn’t guarantee championships and denied coming to a Lakers practice “fully-naked.”

The Los Angeles Lakers team led by O’Neal and Kobe Bryant is still one of the most controversial NBA squads today. Since the early 2000’s, the relationship of Shaq and Kobe has always been talked about in all of NBA.

Despite having several conflicts in the past, O’Neal and Bryant managed to win NBA championships together. And to this day, Shaq is still convinced that a team doesn’t need to be “tight” on and off the court in order to win.

In his exclusive interview with “Fair Game,” O’Neal claimed that their Lakers team did not need to be bonded outside the court to become a great team. According to O’Neal, he was more engaged with the bigger guys and Bryant was more close to the guards. However, they let everybody do their thing and didn’t follow any specific team routine once the game is over.

“Every team has cliques right? I was the big man and the likes, kobe ran the guards. Look, all that stuff about you gotta be together to win is a myth. Stop it America!” O’Neal said.

The three-time NBA Finals MVP even emphasized that a team doesn’t need to be tight and maintain a certain bond to win NBA championships. “You don’t have to be like this (tight) to win championships. We’ve proven that,” O’Neal added.

In addition, O’Neal also revealed that he wouldn’t want to play for an NBA team who is bonded together even after the game. As per O’Neal, team chemistry only matters inside the court and not outside.

“I don’t wanna play for a team like that anyway. Cause they can be beaten. They can easily be beaten. You give me a perfect team vs. my unperfect team and I will kill ‘em everytime,” O’Neal vowed.

With regards to the rumor that he once showed up in a Lakers practice session “fully-naked,” O’Neal had a very detailed response. The legendary big man didn’t confirm the rumor, but he went very technical regarding it. According to O’Neal, since he had his shoes on during the practice session, it means he is not completely naked.

“I can’t confirm that,” O’Neal said about coming to practice naked.

“Did I have shoes on? It’s not naked then. The true definition of naked is nothing on. If I had shoes on means Iwasn’t naked,” O’Neal pointed out.