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Lakers legend calls for the Boston Celtics to trade All-NBA Second Teamer

By Andrew Hughes

A Los Angeles Lakers legend wants to see the Boston Celtics trade their All-NBA Second Team superstar forward this offseason Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
A Los Angeles Lakers legend wants to see the Boston Celtics trade their All-NBA Second Team superstar forward this offseason Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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All-NBA Second Team forward Jaylen Brown should find his a new team this offseason — at least that’s what Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal believes the Boston Celtics should facilitate for him to make No. 7 a No. 1 option elsewhere.

“I would, business-wise, break them up and use one of them to get the pieces I want,” said O’Neal during an episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq.” “I would say Tatum is the No.1. Use Brown to bring in a Brown-type player and then just do it like that. And then it will be good for Brown so that he’ll have the opportunity to be No. 1 somewhere, because he’s a No. 1 caliber player but I can tell that it frustrates him to be the other guy.”

Given the way O’Neal’s Lakers tenure ended, it’s hard to believe there is a bias present here. The “Big Shamrock” was also a member of the Boston Celtics briefly during the 2010-11 season, his last in the NBA. What’s more likely is O’Neal wanting to see Brown get his own team so the league is more spread out talent-wise. O’Neal has long been opposed to superteams, and Boston is arguably one All-NBA star away from being one.

Shaquille O’Neal feels Jaylen Brown being Boston Celtics’ No. 2 option ‘affects’ him

O’Neal would go on to say that Brown being the Boston Celtics’ No. 2 option to a player who was selected at the same draft slot but a season after him is affecting Brown’s mental; just as being forced into the No. 2 role in Los Angeles affected “Superman” back in the day.

“That affects you, it really does mentally,” O’Neal said. “Because I went from No. 50 and went to No. 1 and stayed for a long time. Then when I was in LA they tried to force me to be No. 2, but I was like, ‘nope, I’m the king’ and stayed at No. 1. Went through a lot of battles every year. Finally, they said ‘we’re going to kill the king in his sleep’ and they traded me to Miami.”

With Brown’s comments about the “toxic” Celtics fanbase and given his complaints about the city of Boston, it’s not hard picturing Brown getting his wish eventually. It feels likely that the Cs will hand him a supermax first and address any potential trade demand later, though, with winning Banner 18 with Brown and Jayson Tatum still the franchise’s primary focus.

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