"Hold on, you went to the Finals nine times and lost?" - Jerry West once calmed down an angry Shaquille O'Neal by telling his life story 

Back in 2021, Shaquille O'Neal told a story about the time Jerry West gave him a pep talk about winning an NBA championship. In the 1996-97 season, Shaq joined forces with the LA Lakers to help both parties win titles. O'Neal was one of, if not the most dominant big men in the league at the time. With that in mind, the Lakers organization brought him in to increase their chances of winning titles.

However, Shaquille O'Neal wasn't exactly getting the playoff runs he initially thought he would have after joining the purple and gold franchise. This led to major criticism of 'Big Diesel', which only angered him. While the Lakers looked like legitimate contenders in the late 90s, they always lacked when it came to the playoffs. After multiple years of losing, Shaq took out his frustration by ripping off five urinals.

O'Neal hilariously told the story of how Jerry West defused the situation on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'. While Shaq was ripping the urinals off the wall, West told the big man about the fact that he went to the NBA Finals nine times and lost. The tale reassured Shaq and encouraged him to be more patient with himself and the team.

“Jerry West came in, and he told me a story I didn’t know,” O’Neal explained. “He said, ‘Son, calm down. I went to the Finals nine times before I won it with the Lakers,’ so I didn’t feel as bad. So I’m ripping a urinal off, and I was like, ‘Hold on, you went to the Finals nine times and lost?’ He said, ‘Calm down! You’ll get it! You’ll get it!'”

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Shaquille O'Neal's historic three-peat with the LA Lakers

Shaquille O'Neal and the LA Lakers' historic three-peat

While Shaquille O'Neal didn't immediately achieve the success that the LA Lakers had hoped for in the late 90s, they ultimately came up with three championships in a historic manner.

Coming into the new millennium, it was clear that the Michael Jordan era was over and it was finally time for new stars to take the throne. Shaq was one of the first players to do it in the post-Jordan era.

From 2000-2002, Shaq and the Lakers came up with a historic three-peat championship, a feat that no other team after their title run was able to replicate.

Despite getting impatient with himself, Jerry West delivered on his promise that Shaq would eventually win the big one in his career. To add icing to the cake, he went on to win it three times in a row, forever cementing his legacy as a Lakers and NBA legend.