O’Neal Figures It’s a Good Time to Share Wealth

True to his word, Shaquille O’Neal presented 18 Laker teammates and four staff members with Rolex watches before Saturday morning’s practice.

“Jerry Buss took care of me, so I took care of them,” O’Neal said Saturday night. “I took care of all the guys.”

An hour after he signed his three-year, $88.4-million contract extension, O’Neal drove to Beverly Hills, picked out the watches, and put the $150,000 charge on his American Express card. Apparently, a company representative asked to speak to Shaq before he would approve the purchase.

“He said, ‘Are you sure this is Shaq? What happened today?’ ” O’Neal recounted. “I told him I just signed my extension. He said, ‘Oh, it’s Shaq. It’s Shaq, everybody!’ ”

He arrived at practice Saturday with a plastic bag and 22 tiny boxes.

“Guys’ eyes got wide, like it was Christmas morning,” said rookie Mark Madsen, who accompanied O’Neal on the shopping spree.

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Rolex watches aside, there were plenty of reasons for Laker players to be satisfied with O’Neal’s contract extension. Kobe Bryant, for one, will be in a position for an extension after next season, and there will be just as much outcry to keep him happy and in Los Angeles as there was for Shaq.

“I’m happy because some owners have been talking about Jerry Buss being a tightwad,” Bryant said. “Shaq’s contract nips that in the bud. And, besides the Lakers being willing to pay the players, it’s more the way they treat their players off the court. They’re consummate professionals. You can’t say that about a lot of other organizations.”

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Coach Phil Jackson is dissatisfied with the team’s overall level of conditioning, the motivation for Saturday’s rare two-a-day schedule. The Lakers will practice once each today and Monday, then play Phoenix Tuesday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

He believes that fatigue played a factor in excessive turnovers and fouling, along with poor shooting, in two exhibition defeats this week. The Lakers drilled Saturday morning, then returned to the El Segundo facility and scrimmaged well into Saturday evening.

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Isaiah Rider said he was upset with his play after Saturday’s practice, and that he is determined to rediscover his game soon.

“That’s what these next 18 days are for,” he said. “From now on, I’m going to play with a little bit of sense of urgency. I’m going to go to more of my style of play, within the context of (the offense), because I’m not happy with the way I’m playing right now.”