Shaquille O'Neal no longer wants to play for the Lakers, a decision he said he reached this week, when he came to believe the organization preferred Kobe Bryant to him and Phil Jackson.
Through his agent, Perry Rogers, O'Neal has demanded the Lakers trade him, a request team management sources say will be granted, if possible.
On the day Bryant opted out of his contract to become a free agent and Jackson and the Lakers decided he would not return as the team's coach, O'Neal said he had lost faith in the franchise and its general manager, Mitch Kupchak.
The process of trading O'Neal, of undoing the summer of 1996, when O'Neal and Bryant were brought in by then-General Manager Jerry West and eventually won three NBA championships together, will start immediately, and Kupchak undoubtedly will be overrun with offers.
"The direction they're going in, if they're going to continue to go in the same direction, I don't want to be a part of this," O'Neal said. "This team, it ain't about me. It ain't about Phil. It's supposed to be about team."
Kupchak, who said Thursday he would consider trading O'Neal if that is what he wished, had no comment Friday.
O'Neal, one of the great players in NBA history and the Finals MVP in the Lakers' last three championships, has two seasons remaining on his Laker contract, for $27.7 million next season and $30.6 million the season after. He can opt out of the final year of the contract and become an unrestricted free agent, but he's in a bigger hurry to go.
"I wanted to let you guys know, this is something I've been thinking about for a long time," he said. "When I was brought here by Jerry West, there was a team concept.... It was something I wanted to be a part of. Now no one cares. I told you I'm all about winning championships. Now the organization is different. It seems right now they're trying to pit one person against another.
"Therefore, I don't want to be a part of that."
By the rules of the NBA collective bargaining agreement, the Lakers would have to take back about as much salary as they trade away, meaning a deal involving O'Neal would be complex and probably involve multiple players. A return to the Orlando Magic might be amenable to O'Neal. It probably would mean his friend and neighbor, Tracy McGrady, a member of the Magic who also has forced a trade, would have to swap places with him.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and O'Neal have a good relationship, and Cuban has one of the league's highest payrolls.
