Shaquille O’Neal Predicts LeBron James’ Future With Lakers And Details New Role During NCAA March Madness

Shaquille O’Neal obviously played for a number of teams, but he’ll always be best known for his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The most dominant modern day big led the Lakers to three consecutive championships at the turn of the millennium with Kobe Bryant — the last team to do it, as he makes sure to mention — as the focal point of the team, winning three Finals MVP’s while overpowering his opposition.

The numbers and records are endless, with O’Neal’s 38-point, 16.7 rebound, 2.7-block average during the 2000 Finals still ranking as one of the finest performances in championship series history.

And while there have been many great teams since then — including Kobe’s Lakers teams in the post-Shaq era, LeBron James’ Miami Heat squads of the early 10’s and Steph Curry’s Warriors teams over the past decade — no team since the turn of the century matches the early 2000’s Lakers, according to “The Big Diesel” himself.

"Of course, by far," says O'Neal without hesitation.

The Hall of Fame center explains what separated those teams from all of the great championship squads people have seen since.

"The most controversial, the most enigmatic team ever created,” O’Neal said during a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with The Home Depot. “There will never be another one-two punch — referring to him and Bryant — that went through what we went through and still had success. Think about it. All the problems you thought we had, we won three out of four. Show me another team that's doing that.”

The four-time NBA champion played alongside a number of greats outside of Bryant during his 19-year career. Not only did he notably lead — alongside Dwyane Wade — the Heat to their first title back in ‘06, he played with current Lakers star, LeBron, towards the end of his own career with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

O’Neal — who is obviously very familiar with James — believes the 39-year-old star will “probably” end his career with the Lakers.

“He probably will,” says O’Neal about James ending his career in Los Angeles. “LeBron is the experienced author who doesn't have to write another book. All of his books have been novels and best sellers. The four rings — definitely a Hall of Fame player — the 40,000 points and counting. He's doing things that will never be broken. He's just trying to add more chapters to the book.”

He also believes that James — who holds a player option for the 2024-25 season but has yet to commit to playing for next season — might have another three or four years left in him.

“I don't know how many years he has left, but looks really good out there,” says O’Neal. “Looks to me he has three or four years left.”

There’s little doubt that James has plenty left in the tank. James — who is a four-time champion in his own right — is playing at a level that no one has ever seen from an NBA player in the midst of his 21st season. The 20-time All-Star is still averaging 25.3 points (15th in the NBA) and 8.0 assists per game (seventh in the league) and has only missed nine games this season — with none of those absences involving a major injury.

However, the path to a fifth championship ring — James has previously indicated his desire to match Michael Jordan’s six championship rings — appears far off. A season after making a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals — they entered as a play-in seed at No. 7 — the Lakers are battling just to remain in the playoff chase. As of this writing, they’re ninth in the West and 2.5 games out of locking in a playoff spot before the play-in tournament.

While O’Neal believes James will finish his career with the Lakers while playing another several years, he admits the team needs to get “younger” if they want any shot of giving the all-time great another chance at winning a ring.

“Be younger,” O’Neal says bluntly. “It’s a young man’s game. I think LeBron is one of the oldest in the league. AD is up there. We have a one-two punch. It’s just the others need to step up. The Lakers have been very up and down. As a team, you can’t be up and down.”

O’Neal attributed the consistency of the Lakers’ role players during the early 2000’s — such as Robert Horry, Derek Fisher and Rick Fox — as a main reason why the team was able to win. That’s something that is lacking in the current version of the Lakers.

"The good thing about my Robert Horry's, my D Fish's and my Rick Fox's, they were always there," says O’Neal.

O’Neal is already known during his post-playing career for his work on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” He’s also starred in numerous types of commercials over the years with brands such Icy Hot, The General and Papa John’s — O’Neal is a member of the pizza chain’s board of directors. But during NCAA March Madness, fans will get the opportunity to see the 7-foot star in commercials with The Home Depot HD , the largest home improvement retailer in the United States.

The commercials will feature O’Neal in a number of ad spots titled “Tips from the Tool Shaq,” which will be a series bringing together basketball themes with common spring DIY projects.

The partnership between a basketball legend such as O’Neal — he starred with the LSU Tigers for three years before he became the top pick in the 1992 NBA Draft — and Home Depot coincides with the brand’s three-year partnership with the NCAA starting in time for the tournament. The NBA legend filmed a total of seven commercials for Home Depot and his creative content with the company is for this year.

That means you’ll begin seeing ads featuring O’Neal and The Home Depot brand just prior to the start of the tournament during “Selection Sunday” on March 17 as the home improvement brand looks to reach a new audience during one of the biggest sporting events of the year. The relationship is notable because The Home Depot has never had a partnership with a basketball athlete.

This would be the first time since the company’s inception — the first store opened in 1979 — that The Home Depot has featured an NBA or NCAA basketball star in a content series of ads. Involving one of the most recognizable names in sports history obviously is an effort to reach an audience that maybe isn’t too familiar with the retail brand.

“We're going to mix basketball terminology with things that go on at Home Depot, topics like ‘Seeding The Bracket’ and ‘Cleaning The Glass’ — each ad has a mixture of what people do at home and what people do during March Madness,” O’Neal details. “They're very cute ads.”

The 52-year-old Hall-of-Fame basketball great explained the purpose of the advertisements. In a preview of the multiple tv spots, O’Neal is seen participating in each ad while doing home improvement projects with different tools with Home Depot employees on a basketball court.

“This campaign is just about fun while using basketball terminology and showing some of the products that The Home Depot sells,” explains O’Neal. “It's something that's true to my brand and something that is true to their brand.”

One of the advertisements is titled "How To Avoid A One Seed Upset" and features O’Neal watering a pot while instructing how to seed it properly.

O’Neal revealed how him being a customer of Home Depot actually played a role in him agreeing to this partnership with the Atlanta, Georgia-based brand.

“I've been a Home Depot customer forever,” says O’Neal. “Just love the brand. I think my store — McDonough, Georgia — when I first bought my house was a fixer upper. I was in there once a week. The people have always been very, very hospitable.”

And while O’Neal admits that it would have been nice to advance deeper into the tournament during his own collegiate career — the furthest the Tigers advanced during his tenure was to the “Sour 32” bracket as O’Neal referred to it as — the basketball legend also details why these commercials stand out a little more than your usual big brand advertisement.

“The best part about these commercials is that they brought real salespeople from The Home Depot to be in these commercials,” reveals O’Neal. “That was really, really nice.”

While O’Neal doesn’t really have any specific championship pick for the men’s tournament, he has been taking notice of play between the women leading into March Madness. The former LSU star picked his Final Four for the women’s bracket in April.

"I haven't really been paying attention to the men's side, because the women's side has been dominating,” says O’Neal. “My Final Four (for the women's bracket) would be LSU, Iowa, USC and South Carolina.”