O’Neal Getting Ready to Play to His Strength

Shaquille O’Neal has gained four inches on his already massive chest and biceps, and opposing players have the league commissioner to thank.

For all of his might, O’Neal has never been a dedicated weightlifter. Instead, he’d trained on the court, telling trainers he’d get into basketball shape by playing basketball, and there was little arguing with who already was the strongest man in the history of the game.

After 10 seasons of abuse generally ignored by referees, as he has seen it, O’Neal walked into a weight room going on three months ago, and has barely been out since. His biceps have increased to 22 1/2 inches. His shoulders are rounded and defined. His chest is thick.

Uh-oh.

“Since David Stern allows the rest of the league to treat me like a WWF wrestler, then I must look like a WWF wrestler,” O’Neal said Thursday about the NBA commissioner. “For real. I’m the WWF’s best NBA player. I’m going to get real big and real strong. I’ll become the Undertaker of the NBA. You know who that is, right? You ever seen him?”

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O’Neal intends to practice Sunday and Monday and the team will determine Tuesday whether he can play that night against the Atlanta Hawks.

While the Lakers wait on that, Rick Fox returns tonight against the Washington Wizards. He was suspended for the first six games of the season because he fought with Sacramento’s Doug Christie during an exhibition game.

“That was an expensive $300,000 vacation,” said Fox, who watched Thursday’s game on television.

The suspension was without pay.

TONIGHT

at Washington, 5 PST

Channel 9, ESPN

Site -- MCI Center.

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records -- Lakers 2-4, Wizards 2-3.

Record vs. Wizards (2001-02) -- 2-0.

Update -- The last time the Lakers saw Michael Jordan, he played 12 minutes, scored two points and the next day went to the injured list for the remainder of his comeback season. Jordan is coming off the bench for the Wizards, whom many view as a playoff team after adding Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes and Charles Oakley. Ty Lue and Kwame Brown also have had strong starts to the season.