Lil Wayne has long been known for loving “sports sports sports,” but Shaquille O’Neal probably wishes Weezy wasn’t quite so public with his love of all things basketball.
On Thursday (October 26), Weezy was sitting courtside at Crypto.com arena with his son Kameron as the Los Angeles Lakers played the Phoenix Suns. During the game, Wayne was asked for his Mount Rushmore of Lakers players.
AD LOADING...
Wayne’s initial answer included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Shaq. However, he then switched up a spot, replacing Shaq with LeBron James.
Shaq has now comically responded to Wayne’s list on Instagram, sharing a video of him smiling at the New Orleans rapper’s first selections, but then pretending to cry after being dropped from the mountain.
You can see the clip below:
The choice to not include Shaq might be surprising to longtime Wayne fans. Back in 2021, Weezy said that his Mount Rushmore of NBA players actually included Shaq. The rapper’s other choices were Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Allen Iverson.
No word as yet from Wayne on how Shaq-fu went from his Top 4 players of all time on any team to not even being able to make Top 4 of his own team.
AD LOADING...
Perhaps LeBron was just on Wayne’s mind. Earlier this week, he recalled for TNT the first time he met the Lakers great. It was back when LeBron was still a high school phenom.
“I had a show in Ohio and I was on tour with Ja [Rule],” Wayne began. “Slim, Birdman’s older brother, called me he was like, ‘I got a player out there in Ohio. He want to come to your show. He gon’ be the one. I’m telling you Wayne, he’s a young Michael Jordan.’”
“I’m like, ‘What? He’s a high school player. Can he even come to the show?’ Then I had to remind myself that I was in high school too.”
Wayne remembered that Juelz Santana — whose real name, funnily enough, is LaRon James — pulled up to the show that day and they kept LeBron waiting over an hour outside.
“When I got downstairs, that man was still downstairs in a Suburban. He had like three of four homies with him,” Weezy continued. “I was like, ‘This the dude?’ What I remember was his arm was in a cast and they was protecting that and protecting that as in being seen. That’s what told me, oh, he must be somebody.
AD LOADING...
“I’ll never forget he had the time of his life. He remember that night, I remember that night. It was an unforgettable time.”
