He was previously supportive of it. Now we know he just wanted the laughter material. Shaquille O’Neal, whose championship banners and no. 34 jersey already adorn the Lakers’ rafters, just made the latest addition to the banners look really underwhelming in a sentence. As we all know, the first winners of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament immortalized their win in Crypto.com Arena ahead of the NBA games today. But Shaq wouldn’t even call it a banner. In fact, he got very irritated when Ernie Johnson kept dropping that word.

On Inside the NBA, the 4x NBA champion broached the subject when Shaq  immediately said, “There’s a loophole there.” When pressed, O’Neal said, “If you look at the ‘real’ banners, there’s a certain color. This is just an ornament.” As he explained, the NBA Cup ‘ornament’ is starkly different in color, shape, and style. When Ernie kept using the word, ‘banner,’ O’Neal sternly doubled down on his point. “It’s not a banner because it doesn’t look like the other banners.”

It wouldn’t be a Shaq-ism without a demonstration. So he put a random piece of Christmas decoration on his coffee and said, “I can’t put stuff on this thing and call it a Christmas tree.” Ernie contended that analogy didn’t apply. When does that matter to Shaq.

The 4x NBA champion kept insisting that it’s not a banner because it’s not the championship gold. “it’s decoration.” Ernie and Kenny somewhat agreed, though they still called it a banner. That’s when Big Diesel warned The Jet to lay off. “Say banner one more time,” the 7 footer exclaimed while pretending to throw something at Kenny.

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Well, the technical term ‘banner’ still applies, but Shaq will not accept it. Instead, he put more trash on his coffee cup, called it a Christmas tree, and started bellowing his self-invented carol with a reference to “golden rings.” You know the kind that came with the Lakers’ 17 other banners.

Shaq thought it was genius

Now we know why. He seemingly was on his former team’s side against the banner-haters at first. But he was really calling it a marketing stunt.

“The Lakers are smart. Whoever put out that press release is a genius,” he said on The Rich Eisen Show. Bringing up the difference in the color scheme of the new ‘ornament,’ he said it was a smart decision to make it different from the championship banners.

Before, he also claimed he wouldn’t consider making time on his calendar to play in the In-Season Tournament. So we know his true feelings on the subject. What would you call the Lakers’ ‘ornament’ instead?

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