Los Angeles Lakers to honour three of their ex-players next season – NBA Update
Los Angeles Lakers management announced on Thursday the dates of three events which will take place in the coming season in honour of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Shaquille O’Neal.
The first event will take place on November 16th before the start of the game against Phoenix Suns when Abdul Jabbar’s statue will be unveiled at the Star Plaza outside the Staples Center.
Abdul-Jabbar had an illustrious career and still remains NBA’s all time leading scorer. He won 6 NBA Championship in his career with 5 of them coming at the Lakers and was also named the league MVP six times.
The statue is being made after Abdul-Jabbar publically complained about not having a statue in his honour last season. The hall of famer will have his statue standing alongside the likes Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Wayne Gretzky,
Oscar De La Hoya and Chick Hearn.
The second event will take place on December 28th during the halftime of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers and in that the Lakers will be honouring Wilkes - yet another Naismith Hall of Famer - by retiring
his jersey number 52. Wilkes had the honour of winning the NBA Championship four times in his career and was named an All-Star on three occasions.
The third event will be taking place on April 2nd during the game against the Dallas Mavericks and will witness the retirement of Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey number 34.
Despite a fall out in relationship between Shaq and the Lakers, Jerry Buss, the franchise owner, still has high regard for O’Neal’s contributions and praised him while announcing the event.
"Shaq had a long and amazing career, with a huge impact both on and off the court," Dr. Jerry Buss said. "His contributions were significant to the entire NBA, but we specifically appreciate what he did with and what he meant to
the Lakers during his eight years with us. We have three championships that we wouldn't have won without him, and we will forever be grateful for his significant contributions to those teams."
Shaq announced his retirement last June after having a 19 year illustrious NBA career. He won three NBA Championships in his time the Lakers and one with the Miami Heat. He will become the ninth player in Lakers history to have
his jersey retired and joins the company of legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, Johnson), Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy , West and Wilkes.
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