Shaquille O’Neal has officially weighed in on the seismic ownership changes reshaping his former franchise. During a recent ESPN call-in, he had a big label for the historic sale of the Los Angeles Lakers.

When Treavor Scales asked about the record-setting sale, the Lakers’ three-peat champion offered high praise for the Buss family’s financial stewardship and the staggering return on investment since Dr. Jerry Buss originally acquired the team decades ago.

“I have great admiration for the Buss family,” O’Neal told Scales. “Learned a lot of business acumen from watching them. And I can remember how much Mr. Buss paid for the team. So, if the rumors are true and on how much they sold it for, I think it was a monumental business move.”

The inflation from $10 billion to $12.5 billion in a year is monumental even as internal family turmoil threatens to derail the franchise’s transition to a new ownership group. The big man was a little nostalgic about his Lakers tenure while remaining impressed.

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“It will be different not knowing that the Buss family is there with the Lakers, but I want to wish them well, want to congratulate them. Thank you for the great memories that they gave me. But from a business standpoint, from what they purchased it for to what they sell for, you get the golf clap.”

And he meant it genuinely when Scales pointed out the sheer scale of the profits, adding, “Several billions worth of a golf clap,” to which Shaq responded, “Yes, exactly.”

As Shaq said, Dr. Jerry Buss originally purchased the Lakers, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Los Angeles Forum in 1979 for $67.5 million. Decades later, the family sold controlling interest to Dodgers owner Mark Walter at a then-record $10 billion valuation. Walter subsequently flipped controlling interest in a record-breaking $12.5 billion agreement to a group led by Disney CEO Bob Iger and businessman Josh Kushner.

O’Neal’s commentary lands in the middle of a dramatic power struggle among the heirs of the Buss estate. While the Buss family initially retined a 17.8% minority stake with Jeanie as acting governor, a majority of Jerry Buss’s six children, led by Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey, and Jesse, recently voted to sell their remaining shares to the incoming Iger-Kushner group to “exit gracefully while we still can.”

However, team governor Jeanie Buss is refusing to go quietly. Her attorney, Adam Streisand, sent formal legal notices arguing that the family trust vote is void and attempting to block the sale of her individual stake.

Under NBA governance guidelines, a franchise governor must maintain at least a 15% personal or trust ownership threshold. If her siblings force through the sale of the remaining 17.8% stake, Jeanie will fall below that line, effectively stripping her of the team governorship she has held since her father’s passing in 2013.

Despite the ongoing Buss drama, sources confirm the broader $12.5 billion purchase by Iger and Kushner remains on track for NBA Board of Governors approval. For Shaq, who won three consecutive championships under Dr. Jerry Buss and Jeanie’s leadership, the end of the 47-year Buss family era represents an incredible financial triumph.