Shaq Once Stormed Lakers' Practice Court Naked, Former Teammates Still Can't Shake the Image

Remember that time Shaquille O'Neal started practice naked? Pepperidge Farm remembers, and so does Shaq's Los Angeles Lakers teammates.

On the day when the Lakers were going to unveil a statue honoring the man who spent eight years in purple and gold, The Orange County Register's Mark Medina published a piece where his teammates opened up about one jarring moment during his time with the Lake Show.

“Shaq walked onto the court, put his hands up and said ‘I’m ready to practice,’" Lakers assistant coach Mark Madsen recalls. “He had not one inch of clothing on. So he was there in all of his glory.”

Another one of O'Neal's former teammates and current Lakers head coach Luke Walton remembers a rule where none of the players could be late for center huddle, so instead of being tardy and fully-clothed, Shaq would show up in his birthday suit. But hey, at least he's on time, right?

And if you know anything about the Big Diesel, you better believe that the last thing he felt about being in the buff was embarrassed. In fact, Shaq would go the extra mile to make his teammates feel awkward. “He would start running around looking for guys to hug. Everybody was trying to get out of the way,” Derek Fisher remembers. “That’s why when I hit that shot in San Antonio in 2004, that’s why we were so good at sprinting off of the court.”

It's the type of image that Rick Fox admits he still can't forget. “I can’t get that image out of my mind,”​ Fox said.

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