Shaquille O’Neal opened up about how Demi Moore and Bruce Willis’sinfluence convinced Jerry West to sign Shaq to the Lakers before Kobe’s arrival.

Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway were teammates in Orlando

Shaquille O’Neal made a big splash when he joined the Orlando Magic along with his team-building activities like making Penny Hardaway’s trade from the Warriors to the Magic and forming a championship-winning team, however, his most notable career was with the Lakers when Kobe and he made history winning 3 NBA rings.

Former NBA player and teammate Penny Hardaway recently spoke about the matter on the Let’s Be Clear podcast “I didn’t want him to go but I found out that Bruce Willis and Demi Moore all these entertainers and actors out in LA helped recruit him with Jerry West to come out there and it was two overwhelming and Shaq in the movies and in the music…No, it was a great career move for him because going LA was a bigger market than Orlando,”.

O’Neal’s great talents landed him three of his titles with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000s. Most recently O’Neal went to Jimmy Kimmel Live and spoke on how the trade happened and the pep talks he had with West.

O’Neal opened up to Jimmy Kimmel on one of the best pieces of advice he heard from the late Jerry West “He (Jerry West) said, ‘Son, calm down. I went to the Finals nine times before I won it with the Lakers,’ so I didn’t feel as bad. So I’m ripping a urinal off, and I was like, ‘Hold on, you went to the Finals nine times and lost?’ He said, ‘Calm down! You’ll get it! You’ll get it,” O’Neal said about West.