Until he tells them otherwise, the Los Angeles Lakers are treating the 2015-16 season as Kobe Bryant’s farewell.
According to Shaquille O’Neal, health-permitting, his former teammate ought to play past his 20th year in the NBA.
Until the wheels fall all the way off, O’Neal thinks the 37-year-old superstar guard should keep hooping.
Per The Times-Picayune:
“If you still got something, you should go because once it’s done you can’t get it back,” O’Neal said. “If I hadn’t got hurt I would have went on and played my last season to try and break Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record. […] But it’s different for a guard because they got control –‘I’m going to shoot this time.’ For big guys, it is kind of hard. You’ve got to labor down.”
The Lakers have not made the playoffs since the 2012-13 season and they are not projected to make it this season. The Lakers fared 21-61 last season and they went 27-55 in 2013-14.
O’Neal said he’s not sad to see the Lakers’ decline after teaming with Bryant to win three consecutive NBA championships with the franchise from 2000-02. […] “No, because I had to tuck those feelings away when I became a (minority) owner of the Sacramento Kings,” O’Neal said. “I’m a business man. Every four or five years, I have to reconnect my computers.”
