Lakers News: Former Champ Details Off-Court Generosity Of Shaquille O'Neal

The Big Diesel had a big heart.

While he was playing for your Los Angeles Lakers from 1996-2004, Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal led the team to four NBA Finals appearances, including three straight wins from 2000-2002.

His comrade Tyronn Lue, who played with LA from 1998-2001 (and won his two titles as a player in 2000 and 2001), recently spoke with one-time Laker Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the duo's Showtime podcast series All The Smoke about his career as a player and coach.

Lue offered up some intriguing insights into what O'Neal was like as a teammate away from the hardwood.

"Off the court, one of the [most fun] guys I've ever been around," Lue said. "The biggest thing with Shaq [was] he really, genuinely cared about people. Bought Mad Dog [backup power forward/center Mark Madsen] a truck, bought me [a] whole wardrobe, and bought and bought me a car. When I first met him, I met him at Century Club, he said, 'Come over to my house tomorrow, my chef is cooking come on to the crib.' He gave me $20,000 cash!"

"That's just who he is, he's a giving person, genuine guy. And so I asked him, I said, 'Shaq, how you be going out all the time?' He said, 'The more you go out, the more they see you, the more they won't bother you.' ...It's kind of a smart way to live. When you're that big-time, it's hard to go out a lot of times and so he just kind of... put himself amongst the people." 

In his three Lakers seasons, Lue played spot bench minutes for the club, averaging 4.1 points on .439/.379/.698 shooting splits, 1.4 assists and 0.8 boards.

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