Steve Kerr coached the Golden State Warriors to the NBA Finals in each of the past five seasons, an accomplishment that ranks among the rarest in NBA history -- and one that one NBA legend was certain would never happen again.
On Monday night, Kerr, who has eight combined championship rings as a player and a coach, tweeted an old ESPN clip of an interview with Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal in which he made a promise that he almost certainly regrets now.
Hey @SHAQ, I'm going to do us both a favor and pretend that @D_West30 didn't send this to me this morning. pic.twitter.com/oFhpTPYjOo
— Steve Kerr (@SteveKerr) July 16, 2019
The clip, which Kerr said was sent to him by David West, originally aired in the summer of 2004, just days after O'Neal had been traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Miami Heat. That Lakers team had been coached to four NBA Finals (three titles) in five seasons by Phil Jackson, which was the feat O'Neal said would never be matched. For his part, O'Neal is ready to pay up on his "bet" with Kerr, who was the Phoenix Suns general manager when the team traded for O'Neal in 2008.
@SteveKerr I guess I'll c u in fear factor, and make sure it's kraft cheese lol
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) July 16, 2019
However, if O'Neal really wants to honor his commitment, he needs to head back to Miami first. Because before Kerr pulled off four (technically five) Finals trips in five years, Erik Spoelstra coached the Heat to the Finals in four consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2014. Spoelstra was also an assistant coach on the Heat team that won a title with O'Neal in 2006. There's no word on whether his four consecutive Finals trips were at all motivated by the "offer" from the player he once coached.