Even After 3-Peating in LA With Kobe Bryant, Leaving Orlando Remained Shaquille O’Neal’s Biggest Regret in Life

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest basketball players to ever step on the court. He is certainly one of the best centers in the history of the NBA. His strength, build and enormous size were his main features. Along with his humongous structure and physical dominance, his speed and agility made him absolutely unstoppable in his prime.

Before becoming a Lakers legend, Orlando Magic selected Shaq in the 1992 NBA draft. He was their 1st pick where he played for four years. The Hall of Famer has won 4 NBA championships, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat. Other than that in his 19 years of NBA career, Shaq has played for three more franchises: Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Boston Celtics.

Shaquille O’Neal wishes he stayed with Magic

Back in 2015, Shaq admitted that leaving Orlando Magic as a free agent to join the Los Angeles Lakers was the biggest regret of his career. 

This was a big statement as joining the Lakers worked like a charm for him. He won three championships there and had his own legacy. He partnered up with Kobe Bryant in LA and formed a formidable duo. To this day, we know Shaq as a Lakers legend. 

WATCH: 5 most dominant moments from Shaq in the NBA.

“I just wish I would’ve had more patience. It was all about I wanted to be protected from the bashing. What I mean by that [is] I wanted to win then. Even when I got there [to L.A.], I still got bashed and it still took four years to win. But I was very impatient. I was very young, and I thought that if I go there with those guys out there, that I could win right away. And that wasn’t the case.” said Shaq.

Shaq admitted that it was all business and despite the success that followed it, he sometimes regrets the decision. He thinks that if he knew what all he knows right now, he could’ve stayed there. Shaq Diesel reminisced about how he would’ve stayed for 7 years and then reflected upon where his career would take him after that. He also thinks that he could’ve stayed in Orlando for his whole career. 

“This is where I started, where I should’ve stayed. I actually wish that they [had] made it a law that whoever drafted you, you’ve got to stay there your whole career. No trades, no nothing, no free agency. No anything like that. Do I regret it? I regret it only because the DeVos family, they deserve a couple [of NBA titles].” Shaq told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.

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Shaq won a three-peat with the Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002). So the question begs to be asked, would Shaq have won any titles with the Magic? There is no way of knowing. But if we guess or think about it, Shaq probably would have achieved some success with Orlando as well, purely because of how great of a player he was.