“Cops Waiting For Me”: Shaquille O’Neal Makes Shocking Lakers Confession After Suffering Luka Doncic-Like Fate

Imagine heading to be the next Dirk Nowitzki of your franchise and being deprived of the possibilities all of a sudden. That’s exactly what happened with Luka Doncic as he reportedly had no prior idea about his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Shaquille O’Neal believes this was not a sudden move on the franchises’ end.

Shaq based his opinion on his own previous experience of being traded from the Lakers. And he hates this pattern where a franchise has been planning something behind the curtains and it’s all laid upon the players put of nowhere.

“The crazy thing about business of sports, business of basketball, everybody think it [the Luka trade] just happened that night. These things are well planned out,” Big Diesel pointed out. He admitted that this realization hit him only recently when reflecting on his own departure from Los Angeles.

Anyone following the Lakers at the time knew Shaq’s relationship with Kobe Bryant was rocky. And after their 2004 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons, things hit a breaking point. The franchise had a choice to make, and they stuck with Kobe. Shaq was off to Miami—and he was furious about the franchise’s decision.

“When I got traded, you know, Mitch Kupchak said, ‘Hey, we’ll be taking all calls for Shaq’… He said it on ESPN… I’m eating cereal… I get a call from Uncle Jerome. Uncle Jerome said, ‘Okay, you traded,'” O’Neal recalled. Shaquille O’Neal stated although he pretended to be cool on the call, he couldn’t hold back his anger. “So I get in my motherf*cking car, I’m going to f*ck Mitch Kupchak. I’m gonna kill this motherf*cker,” he recalled his raw emotions.

The 4x NBA champ wasn’t joking. He actually drove straight to Kupchak’s office, ready to confront him. But just as he got off the exit, his plan hit a roadblock.

“When I got off the exit, the cops are waiting for me,” Shaq revealed on The Big Podcast. But even then, he wasn’t ready to let it go. The 15x All-Star waited a few days, hoping the security would ease up. But when he returned, the cops were still there, standing between him and the man who had sent him away. However, there’s an interesting side to Shaq’s anger against Kupchak.

Despite the fact it was O’Neal’s differences with Black Mamba that led to his departure from the Lakers, both Shaq and Kobe despised Kupchak for quite some time.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant used to slam basketballs against Mitch Kupchak’s office

Big Diesel and Black Mamba never held back when it came to showing their loyalty. And few people had their respect like Jerry West. So when West suddenly stepped down as the Los Angeles Lakers general manager in 2000, it wasn’t just a front-office shakeup—it was personal for them.

West, overwhelmed by personal stress and burnout, left without a formal announcement, escaping to Alaska. That left assistant GM Mitch Kupchak to step into West’s shoes. A move that didn’t sit right with O’Neal and Bryant. And honestly, how could it? West wasn’t just a front-office guy to them—he was the mastermind who brought them together.

For two superstars who owed so much of their careers to West, watching him leave felt like a betrayal. And they made sure Kupchak knew it. The tension was obvious, but Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant took things a step further.

Brian Shaw, their former teammate, recalled just how ruthless they could be. “I remember Shaq and Kobe being pretty cruel to him at the practice facility. Mitch’s office overlooked the court and Shaq and Kobe used to slam basketballs up against Mitch’s window while he was at the computer. Mitch would jump and they would just laugh,” Shaw said.

The message was loud and clear—Kupchak wasn’t Jerry West, and they weren’t about to let him forget it. Fortunately for the ex-Lakers GM, Shaquille O’Neal failed to get to him after his trade, or else he might’ve had a different and possibly violent story to never forget.