O’Neal Finally Has Day on Court

He was there in the flesh, finally, not just the fantasy.

“I don’t believe this,” Eddie Jones said, still sounding amazed at the chain of events. “I’ve got Shaquille O’Neal on this team.”

Some 2 1/2 months after they signed him, weeks after they started running a head-to-toe picture of him in the new uniform in the newspaper to give ticket sales another push, the Lakers finally got O’Neal on the court Friday when training camp opened at the University of Hawaii. It only seemed like Xanadu.

How surreal was it?

O’Neal made his first two free throws.

The really strange part was the entire practice--he was in it. The Orlando Magic were an ocean and a continent away, if not quite a world away yet.

“It’s not weird,” O’Neal said.

Then he paused.

“Yeah, it is kind of weird. But you have to move on, and I think I made a good decision.”

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Kobe Bryant, recovering from a fractured wrist, is able to participate in some drills, but at times Friday wore a plastic splint. It’s a precaution.