Shaquille O'Neal on Lakers fans: They didn't love me, they loved Kobe Bryant

[ASFN Admin]

LeBron James leaving the Los Angeles Lakers and heading to the Philadelphia 76ers re-opened plenty of discourse around the fandom’s support of the surefire Hall of Famer and all-time great. The national conversation has been about whether or not Lakers fans supported James enough during his eight years with the franchise. It was reminiscent of Shaquille O’Neal, another all-timer who left the Lakers franchise after eight seasons as the team moved forward with a younger superstar. So O’Neal felt uniquely able to chime in on the debate, where he took the side of those saying that James wasn’t as well-liked as other Lakers greats. “Well they didn’t love me, they loved Kobe,” O’Neal said in a SiruisXM interview. “They didn’t love me, and listen. This is what we call B.O.B., the business of basketball. When you’re like me, when I’m in charge, I’m a difficult man to deal with. Everything has to be done my way, and sometimes, people don’t agree with that. So when they get you up out of there, I can kind of understand both sides.”

Lakers Nation

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Shaquille O'Neal on Lakers fans: They didn't love me, they loved Kobe Bryant

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