Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue carved out a playing career in the NBA before he joined the league’s coaching ranks, and he spent his first three seasons in the pros playing alongside legendary big man Shaquille O’Neal on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lue recalled an instance when O’Neal defecated in former Lakers forward Devean George’s shoes after George forgot to do a favor for the center.
“One of the best teammates ever,” Lue said of O’Neal. “Talk about a guy that’s genuinely givin’ and takin’ care of people — Shaq was that. But I remember one time he asked Devean George to do somethin’, and Devean didn’t do it. And so — Devean was late, didn’t do it, whatever. So Shaq, ‘All right, cool.’ So, the night before we had a game, Devean’s I think on the court shootin’, whatever — he’s doin’ the training room, whatever. So Shaq goes in the stall, and he takes a s— in Devean’s shoe. And so he takes it, and he knocks it. He knocks it so it goes all the way down to the front. And so Devean comes back, go put his shoe on Dray (Draymond Green) and he stuck his foot in some — it was crazy.”
George was an unheralded part of the Lakers’ title teams in the early 2000s. He was far from Los Angeles’ best player during its three-peat, but he gave the team effective minutes off the bench when his number was called.
The 47-year-old was fortunate to kick off his NBA career with some great Lakers teams, as Los Angeles won titles in every one of his first three seasons in the league. He probably was the most impactful for the Lakers team that completed the three-peat in 2002.
George started just one game but was a crucial contributor in Phil Jackson’s rotation in the 2001-02 regular season. He suited up in all 82 games and averaged 7.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks per game for a Lakers squad that finished with a record of 58-24.
The forward then appeared in 19 playoff games for the Lakers on the team’s path to the 2002 NBA title.
Unlike George, Lue wasn’t still playing for the Lakers when the team completed its three-peat. He spent the 2001-02 campaign with the Washington Wizards and played with Michael Jordan.
Both Lue and George are years removed from their last seasons playing at the NBA level. The former called it quits on his career after he played with the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks in the 2008-09 campaign, while George last played for the Golden State Warriors in the 2009-10 season.
Lakers fans will likely get a kick out of Lue’s story regarding his former teammate and what he did to George, as they watched those teams dominate at the start of the century. No NBA team has rattled off three consecutive titles since the Lakers did with O’Neal and Kobe Bryant leading the charge.
