Shaq Now a “Queen,” Buys Sacramento Ownership Stake
The Sacramento Kings greatest nemesis now owns part of its franchise after Shaquille O’Neal acquired a minority share of the team.
So much for calling the team as the “Sacramento Queens,” the derogatory term Shaq once described the Kings during the height of the Lakers-Kings rivalry in early 2000, the former NBA center will be presented as the new member of the ownership group Tuesday.
The Kings organisation declined to declare how much share the 41-year-old athlete bought, but it is expected to be a small piece of the franchise.
Shaq is wildly unpopular in Sacramento, not only for the trash-talk, but also for thrashing the team in many post-season battles.
The 7-foot-1 center averaged 28.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots in 26 regular season games versus the Kings. With the Los Angeles Lakers, he has a 17-9 record against the Pacific Division rivals and even upped his averages to over 30 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in 16 postseason games vs. Sacramento.
"We're not worried about the Sacramento Queens. Not at all,” once said by Shaq in an interview in 2002 when he was still with the Lakers. “I'm not gonna be doing this all year, going back and forth with them. Nobody cares that we won last year, this is a new year, so we just need to focus on a new year. Like I said, I'm not worried about the Sacramento Queens. Write it down, take a picture, send it to them. I don't care."
Watch Shaq make fun of Sacramento in this video:
Watch Shaq destroy the Kings in this one:
O’Neal was introduced to Kings majority owner Vivel Ranadive by Mark Mastrov, who is one of the latter’s partners. Mastrov is the founder of the 24 Hour Fitness chain and a close business associate and friend of Shaq, dating back to his time in Los Angeles.