Shaquille O’Neal and LA Live
NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal is returning to his old stomping grounds — only this time he’s trading basketballs for burgers.
The former Los Angeles Lakers player will be opening a new restaurant in the sprawling L.A. Live complex that abuts the Staples Center, Eater reported.
Details of the new eatery remain scant. An application for an alcohol license reveals the restaurant will be called “Shaquille’s,” and rise at 800 W. Olympic Boulevard on the site of the shuttered Cleo restaurant.
PRP, a sports management company that represents Shaq and other NBA players, is connected to the LLC that filed the permit.
This wouldn’t be the first restaurant the basketballer owns. Just four hours away in Las Vegas, O’Neal is opening “Big Chicken,” a fried chicken outpost that also serves “Shaq-aroni and cheese.” He previously told USA Today that he plans to expand Big Chicken to L.A. and Atlanta.
O’Neal played for the Lakers from 1996 to 2004, where he won three NBA championships and an MVP title in the 1999 season. He went on to get a fourth ring with the Miami Heat. After stints with the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, he became a sports commentator. [Eater] –Natalie Hoberman
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