Shaq Only Wants $25 Million A Year To Coach The Old, Fading Lakers

Shaquille O'Neal would be more than happy to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. All he would seek in return is the Lakers' house, their boat and maybe their first-born child.

Not really, but close.

“If the Lakers offered me $25 million a year for four years, I would coach the Lakers,” he said on The Big Podcast with Shaq.

Well, good news Shaq. The Lakers need a coach. Frank Vogel was canned after the season after a team with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook couldn't even qualify for the play-in tournament.










Seriously, more teams in the NBA make the playoffs than don't, and yet the Lakers couldn't even qualify. Of course, that likely had less to do with Vogel than it did with the fact the Lakers entered the season with the oldest roster in NBA history.

No, seriously.

With that in mind, if the Lakers don't want to pay Shaq to coach, maybe they'll bring him back as a player. At 50 years old, he'd fit right in.

Of course, Shaq has a pretty cushy gig as an NBA analyst on TNT. He fits in extremely well with co-analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and host Ernie Johnson. The show, "Inside the NBA," is a regular award-winner.

In his current situation, Saq doesn't have to worry about an old roster, with no real salary-cap space to improve, and no draft picks to trade.

Yes, that is basically the Lakers' situation. So hey, Shaq's demand of $25 million a year is probably reasonable. If anything, he's probably not asking enough.














Written by
Sam Amico spent 15 years covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports and NBA.com, along with a few other spots, and currently runs his own basketball website on the side, FortyEightMinutes.com.