O’Neal eventually had three consecutive short summers because of the Lakers’ three-peat.

For many hoopsters, the dream is to win an NBA title. Who wouldn’t want to see “NBA champion” in their career highlights on their Wikipedia page? Players (and coaches) also seem to enjoy the parade, as evidenced by their antics during the event.

But it isn’t always glitz and glamor for the winners. Months after claiming his first title with the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal shared how becoming a champion wasn’t everything he thought it would be.

“I’d thought about winning a championship for a long time, and it was definitely fun,” he said of the Lakers’ 2000 title. “But afterwards, it was kind of…long. I mean, everybody was calling me and wanting to do photo shoots and articles and stuff. So, it was really a long, short summer.

“We got done playing in July, and I never had a chance to get my body back under me and let it rest because I took a beating, shoulder-wise, leg-wise, knee-wise. So the first few weeks, I just took off and rested, and then the next thing I knew it was football season, and then training camp was starting. My summer was very, very short.”

Shaq found it worth it

Given that the dominant O’Neal led the league’s marquee franchise to its first title since 1988, it was only right that he and other members of the Lakers organization were heavily featured in photoshoots and other similar events, even if he didn’t want to.

Perhaps the fact that Los Angeles struggled to defeat some of its playoff opponents in 2000 wore Shaq out.

Its series against the Sacramento Kings in the first round and the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals went the distance. Then, the Indiana Pacers made the Lakers work in the championship bout.

It should also be noted that O’Neal averaged 43.5 minutes per game throughout the entire postseason yet didn’t show signs of fatigue in the last meeting of the Finals.

Even so, the Hall of Famer said that it was worth it. And he probably was thirsty to bring home some more trophies, as he had no problem leading the Lakers to the title in 2001 and 2002.

Shaq’s health woes

One of the reasons the Purple and Gold broke up in 2004, though, was the beef between O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

The former partners in crime had plenty of differences, and Bryant once acknowledged that Shaq’s health issues would have affected their chances of winning more championships even if they had patched things up.

Maybe the deep playoff runs and the quick turnaround in the offseasons took their toll on O’Neal’s body.

It even became a point of contention within the organization when he opted to delay a needed toe surgery in the 2002 offseason, which caused him to miss the first 12 games of the 2002-03 campaign.

Shaq continued to deal with injuries for the remainder of his career. The mileage may have gradually worn him down, but he likely wouldn’t trade it for anything, especially because he has four rings to show for it.