21 Hall of Famers you had no idea played with each other

9) Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James

"Win a ring for the king." That was Shaq's motto when the Cleveland Cavaliers made the curious decision to trade for him at age 37. Shaq's late-career stints were among the most random of any Hall of Famer but the Cavs legitimately thought that the four-time champion had enough diesel left in the tank to help carry the team.

He didn't. Shaq played just 56 games during the regular season, averaging 13.4 points and 8 rebounds per game. While Shaq did put up strong numbers with the Phoenix Suns, he wasn't the low-post offensive threat that they had hoped that he would be. He was similarly effective in the playoffs, and the Cavs were eliminated by the Celtics in the second round. That effectively ended LeBron's time with the team, at least for four years, while Shaq would sign elsewhere that summer.

Hindsight is 20/20 but Cleveland's decision to pair LeBron with slow-plodding big men was odd. It took Erick Spolstra tinkering with playing Chris Bosh at center for people to realize that giving LeBron as much space as possible was the best thing. Too bad, the Cavs didn't during his first tenure with their team.