Shaquille O'Neal holds no ill will toward Jeanie Buss for excluding him from her top-five list of the most important Los Angeles Lakers of all time.
The 59-year-old team owner was asked to name the five most important Lakers on a recent episode of the "All the Smoke" podcast and settled on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Phil Jackson.
O'Neal weighed in on the matter on the latest episode of his podcast, "The Big Podcast with Shaq," and had nothing but praise for Buss. However, he admitted that a younger O'Neal might have taken issue with one of the names on the list.
"I love Jeanie Buss. I have never, would never say anything negative about Jeanie Buss," O'Neal said around the 39-minute mark. "She gave me $120 million, $100 million, another $80 million. I would never, ever in my life say anything negative about Jeanie Buss and the Buss family. That is her opinion. I respect her opinion ... Look, I'm not mad about that. Listen, she's Jeanie Buss, that's her opinion. You ask other people, the names will vary.
"At 49, I'm a lot more peaceful than I was. If I was 29, I would say, 'Hold on, LeBron's only been there 720 days. How you gonna put him before me?' But look, I'm 49, I respect people's opinions."
O'Neal spent eight seasons with the Lakers and helped lead the team to three straight championships between 2000-02.