Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal has a lengthy NBA Finals streak.
One of the most intriuging stats in all of sports resurfaced on Wednesday as SportsCenter tweeted out the mind-boggling streak revolving Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal and the NBA Finals.
Every single NBA Finals dating back to 1985 has included at least one player who was a teammate of Shaquille O’Neal. That is 36 straight NBA Finals that have included one of Shaq’s teammates, dating back seven years before Shaq was even in the league.
The last non-Shaq teammate Finals was the 1984 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.
Shaq retired from the league after the 2010-11 season and he still has quite a few former teammates in the league. Of the top-four teams in each conference, only three have a former Shaq teammate. And they are:
1. The Los Angeles Lakers — LeBron James, Rajon Rondo, Jared Dudley, Danny Green, Avery Bradley
We did not realize this when initially putting together the list of the teams within the top-eight that have teammates of Shaquille O’Neal. The Los Angeles Lakers have five former teammates of Shaq, so there is a lot riding on them making the NBA Finals.
Shaq played with LeBron James in Cleveland and so did Danny Green. Green’s first season in the league was with the Cavs during the 2009-10 season, which was Shaq’s only season in Cleveland.
Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley played with Shaq in the last year of his career with the Boston Celtics during the 2010-11 season. Rondo was already an established point guard and this was Bradley’s rookie season.
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Jared Dudley was the player that I did not even think about at first. Dudley was traded to Shaq’s Phoenix Suns during the 2008-09 season and was his teammate for 48 games.
2. The Milwaukee Bucks — Robin Lopez
The Bucks have a fair number of veterans who were in the league at the same time as Shaq but the only one that shared a team with the Big Diesel was Robin Lopez. Lopez’ rookie season was the 2008-09 season with the Phoenix Suns, which was the last season of Shaq’s tenure in Phoenix.
Lopez was actually Shaq’s backup, averaging 10.2 minutes per game. At least we can take solace in knowing the top-two teams in the league both have Shaq teammates, giving the streak a fair shot of continuing.
3. The Miami Heat — Udonis Haslem, Goran Dragic
Udonis Haslem has been a member of the Miami Heat for his entire career and actually won a championship with Shaq in Miami. He has only played three games in Miami this season and is a complete non-factor, but he is on the roster and thus would continue the streak.
However, the Heat also have a player that actually has a role that played with Shaq in Goran Dragic. Like Lopez, Dragic’s rookie season with the Phoenix Suns was 2008-09, right before Shaq left town.
The other five teams that are in the top-four of either the Western or Eastern Conference do not have any former teammates of Shaquille O’Neal.
So simply put, if we want to see the most legendary streak since The Undertaker’s Wrestlemania streak continue, then we need the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks or Miami Heat to make the NBA Finals.