Shaquille O’Neal spent 8 very productive seasons with the Lakers.  He played in 514 games (509 starts) with the Lakers and he averaged 35.7 minutes, 27.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.5 blocked shots per game.  O’Neal finished #2 in blocked shots in Lakers’ history with 1,278 of them.  He was also #5 in rebounds (6,090) and #7 in points scored (13,895) in Lakers’ history.  O’Neal will without a doubt in my mind enter the Basketball Hall of Fame in a Lakers’ jersey as that is the team he had his most success with.  O’Neal retired from the NBA yesterday.  He played in 1,207 games (1,197 starts) in his NBA career and he averaged 34.7 minutes, 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 blocked shots per game.

Legendary Lakers’ center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar deserves the statue he craves in front of the Staples Center.  The only statue in front of the building that might be more deserving of being there is Magic Johnson.  The Lakers need to do the right thing and build the statue while Jabbar is still alive and in good health…..it’s only right.  Jabbar was inducted into Basketball’s Hall of Fame back in 1995.  He played in 1,093 games in his 14 years with the Lakers and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 22.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.  Jabbar is #2 in games played (1,093) in Lakers’ history.  He’s also #3 in points scored (24,176), #2 in rebounds (10,279), #6 in assists (3,652), #1 in blocked shots (2,694) and he’s #6 in steals (983).  Jabbar should have a statue in front of the Staples Center with him shooting a Sky Hook.

Point guard Magic Johnson was so great for the Lakers because he was so unselfish. Sure, he could have averaged 25 points per night but he liked keeping his teammates involved which made the Lakers a great basketball team. He played in 906 games in his career with the Lakers and he averaged 36.7 minutes, 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 11.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Magic is the Lakers’ all-time leader in both assists (10,141) and steals (1,724). He is also #5 in games played (906), #5 in minutes played (33,245), #3 in rebounds (6,559) and #5 in points scored (17,707). It’s a shame that his career was cut short because of sickness because you will never see another point guard with the same skill set as Magic Johnson because of his size.