Shaq Buys A Stake In The Sacramento Kings

During the early 2000s, the Los Angeles Lakers went to war with the Sacramento Kings in three brutal playoff series in a row. The extremely physical affairs created a ton of animosity between the two teams and famous led to Lakers great Shaquille O’Neal referring to the team’s rival as “The Queens”. That didn’t sit so well with Sacramento residents, but eleven years later, all involved are hoping it’s water under the bridge.

According to ESPN, O’Neal began working with troubled Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins earlier this summer, and now, he’s agreed to buy a small stake in the NBA franchise from majority owner Vivek Ranadive. No one involved in the transaction has spoken publically as to exactly what percent of the team the big man purchased, but it’s almost certainly a miniscule stake. Jay-Z only owned .067% of the Brooklyn Nets. Considering Ranadive recently purchased the team for $530 million, O’Neal would need to pony up a cool $5.3 million to even have one percent of the team. He might be rich, but he’s certainly not rich enough to be buying a huge stake without seriously draining his assets.

There will definitely be a few Sacramento fans who won’t be pleased with this move because of long-term hostilities, but one would imagine the majority of fans would want what’s in the best interests of the team. O’Neal is one of the greatest big men of all time. He has a ton of knowledge to pass on to a future generation of players, and enough street cred that they will listen to him. Hopefully, he really invests his time in the franchise, as much as he does his other goofy pursuits and makes a difference moving forward.

For fun, here’s a look back at how great the rivalry between the Kings and Lakers was in the early 2000s…