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Possibly the most unlikely partnership I would have ever dreamed of. Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal, the legendary center is the newest member of the franchise’s revamped ownership group. The new ownership consortium is led by Indian American tech mogul, Vivek Ranadive.
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The reason why I called this partnership unlikely is that O’Neal led the Los Angeles Lakers to a three-peat win from 2000-2002. However, during all the 3-post seasons, he led them to their titles against the Sacramento Kings, or as he then liked to call them “The Sacramento Queens“.
The retired NBA player is now an analyst at TNT. One of the most versatile and well educated players in NBA history, O’Neal has a Bachelor’s degree in General studies, an MBA and a doctorate in Human Resource Development. He’s even started calling himself “Dr. O’Neal”. Although Shaq does have numerous nicknames, I don’t think anyone’s going to start calling him Dr. O’Neal.
One of the leading marketing strategists in the NBA right now, O’Neal has taken his talents to the Kings.
Although he did buy only a minority stake in the Kings, his actions will have tremendous impact on the team’s future. How exactly will that happen? Let’s find out:
O’Neal: The Experienced Center
O’Neal is probably one of the greatest centers to have ever played in the league, and certainly the most colourful player in recent times.
He was a 4-time NBA Champion, 15-time All-Star, MVP, 3-time NBA Finals MVP and a 2-time NBA Scoring Champion. Shaq is the 6th highest scorer of all time. His 20-year long career has resulted in him having gained an unparalleled amount of basketball knowledge, all of which he’ll be able to impart to the inexperienced Kings.
DeMarcus Cousins, the best player on their roster is in need of proper guidance in order to develop himself as a player. Shaq’s going to be working with Cousins and help the budding star improve.
O’Neal the Marketing Strategist
While most would accredit this aspect of O’Neal to his MBA degree, O’Neal was a born marketing strategist. Remember how he called the Sacramento Kings, “The Queens”? Here’s what he had to say on that topic:
“(The Lakers and Kings) did have some great battles, and fans need to understand that those (“Sacramento Queens”) comments that I made and all that stuff, it was for them… I’ve always been an expert at marketing, so a Laker vs. Sacramento Kings, I wanted it to be the most watched game ever.”
The Kings are one of the worst teams in the league, no doubt. But in order to improve their performance, they do need a good marketing policy to popularise their team. After all, at the end of the day, sports teams are nothing but brands. O’Neal’s marketing skills, coupled with his MBA Degree, will help them immensely in this aspect.
Another, more recent example of his marketing skills: This is in response to ESPN naming the Kings “The worst franchise in Professional Sports”.
“Worst is at the bottom, which means you can’t get no worser. There’s no such thing as ‘worser’, which means we can only get better. And we will get better. Once that new arena comes, once that new downtown is up, once we have a conversation with the players and get everybody to step up, they’ll be knocking on the door. Hopefully Vivek, I, the team and organisation can get it back to where it used to be. I’m telling you these new plans, oh my. You’re going to be like, ‘Sacramento is doing what?’ That’s what we want people to say.”
O’Neal the Analyst
Another advantage of O’Neal joining their team, albeit as a front office man. He is one of the top basketball analysts right now and even has his own show, Inside the NBA, in which he co-stars along with other player turned analysts: Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
Shaq’s insights will prove invaluable to the Kings. Every team would like to have a leading analyst on their payroll. Now they have him not only as an analyst, but also as a part-owner.
Plans for the future
Vivek Ranadive and O’Neal already have plans in place for the development of the Kings.
Ranadive O’Neal’s addition to the franchise will be a huge asset for the Kings.
“I wanted to find somebody to add to the ownership group who truly represented 21st century basketball, who represented my vision of NBA 3.0, which is having an understanding of technology, wanting to build a global brand and being global in their thinking, and really being committed to having an impact in the community. The most iconic person on the planet was Dr. O’Neal. … Dr. O’Neal and I spent a day at my house shooting hoops, hanging out with my kids, and just talking about how to create the franchise of the 21st century.”
Apart from a staunch ally, looks like Shaq has found someone to call him Dr. O’Neal.
While the biggest impact of Shaq’s association with the team would be his role in the development of Cousins and his input as an analyst, Shaq’s already doing his bit as a marketing strategist to promote the team. In some extremely colourful words, O’Neal described the Kings’ plans for their arena with USA Today:
“I’ve seen the (arena) plans… I don’t know if they’ve talked to you about the plans, but woo–wee. That’s all I can say: woo-wee. Oh, you know what, that’s our new slogan: ‘Sacramento: woo-wee.”
One of the most iconic players on the planet has collaborated with the worst franchise in Sports and has promised that they will improve in the next few years. The saga of Shaq and Sacramento continues. Woo-Wee indeed.
