Shaquille O’Neal Speaks On Clippers Covering Up Lakers Banners
#5. Shaquille O’neal
Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday, Shaquille O’Neal was forever immortalized outside of the Staples Center with a bronze statue being unveiled in his likeness. Many consider the arena to be the house that Shaq built as not long after it opened, Shaq led the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight championships.

Over the last few years, the Lakers have fallen on hard times, while their Staples Center co-tenants, the Los Angeles Clippers, have had their best run of success in the history of their franchise. Even still they have yet to even reach the Western Conference Finals.

When Doc Rivers came on as the Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations, he made a controversial decision to cover up the Lakers’ championship banners and retired jerseys with Clippers banners. That move still doesn’t sit well with Shaq who voiced his displeasure on Spectrum SportsNet’s Top Ten Shaq moments:

“Speaking of Clippers, I don’t like the fact that when you guys have your home games, you cover up the jerseys. Until you win 16 championships, then you can start changing the rule. Don’t cover up my jersey. This is [Lakers] building. Don’t forget that s***. Y’all just leasing it. That’s our building.”

It’s hard to argue with Shaq’s thought process. The Lakers have brought in five championships to that building and even though the Clippers have been better recently, Los Angeles is still a Lakers town.

The Clippers in fact, remain the only Staples Center tenant who has yet to hang a championship banner as the Los Angeles Kings have won two Stanley Cup Championships while the Los Angeles Sparks have three WNBA Championships.

The question now is when will the Lakers get back to their championship ways. With Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka taking over, fans can only hope it won’t be much longer.

You May Also Like

Time For Lakers To Learn Who The Real Kyle Kuzma Is

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently playing without Brandon Ingram, who in a best-case scenario would manage…

Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant Discuss What They Learned From Kobe Bryant On Team USA

Because Kobe Bryant had such a storied 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, it is sometimes forgotten how important he was in returning the USA Men’s Basketball program back to greatness…

Lakers News: L.A. Agrees To Partially Guaranteed Deal With Vander Blue

One of the players most responsible for the Los Angeles Lakers winning the Las Vegas Summer League Championship was guard Vander Blue…

Byron Scott On Jim Buss: ‘Doing All The Right Things Right Now’

On Tuesday, Magic Johnson appeared on ESPN’s First Take to discuss numerous…