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[Saba Sports News] Shaquille O’Neal revealed on The Big Podcast with Shaq that he would have considered joining the Chicago Bulls to play with Michael Jordan if the era’s norms had been more accepting of forming superteams.
“If we knew that was acceptable, probably a lot of us would have switched up,” O’Neal said. “If I knew that was acceptable I would have just went to Chicago. If I knew that was acceptable, I would have went and played with the Spurs. If I knew that was okay I would have went and played with a team that was almost there, like Utah.”
Reflecting on the evolving attitudes towards player movement in the NBA, O’Neal discussed how past perceptions differ from today’s openness to star players teaming up. He mentioned that, had it been seen as acceptable back then, he might have also considered playing with other contending teams like the Spurs or the Jazz, highlighting the shift from the expectation that star players should stay with their teams and win championships independently.
O’Neal emphasized the old-school mentality of loyalty and individual achievement, contrasting it with the modern trend where players frequently collaborate to form powerful trios or “Big Threes.”
He acknowledged the change in the league’s culture, which now seems to embrace, if not encourage, the creation of such superteams. Despite leaving Orlando for the Lakers in 1996, O’Neal pointed out that he didn’t join a team with established stars but instead became part of a developing roster that included a young Kobe Bryant, who was not yet a proven superstar.
This perspective sheds light on O’Neal’s career decisions and the hypothetical scenarios that could have unfolded if the league’s ethos had been different, suggesting that the landscape of the NBA could have been dramatically altered if such moves had been commonplace or accepted during his prime.