"I caught the biggest wave," he said of a recent trip to the beach, his eyes lighting up at the thought.
Well, the Lakers are certainly looking for Shaq to make a big splash, starting with the team's preseason opener against the Denver Nuggets at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Special Events Arena.
Head coach Del Harris would just as soon have more practice time, though, with his group of unfamiliar faces.
"As coaches, we would rather continue and develop to work on the catalog of information," the veteran coach said. "But the players get restless and they want to go up against someone else instead of just beating up on each other.
"You almost have to do it to break the boredom of practice for the players. But from the coaches' standpoint, we would rather have the full two weeks before we have to play anybody."
Harris is starting his third year with the Lakers. They were 48-34 in 1994-95 and 53-29 last season, finishing second in the Pacific Division. They were eliminated by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
During the off-season, there was the biggest roster shake-up in team history.
Some of the newcomers include veterans Byron Scott, Jerome Kersey and Rumeal Robinson, along with guard Kobe Bryant, who made the jump from high school to the NBA.
The starting lineup looks like forwards Elden Campbell and Cedric Ceballos and guards Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel joining O'Neal at center.
Ceballos led the team in scoring last season, averaging 21.2 points per game. Van Exel was tops in assists with 6.9 per game and Campbell was second in rebounding at 7.6 per game.
The 7-foot-1, 300-pound O'Neal averaged 26.6 points and 11 rebounds per game last season with the Magic.
O'Neal said he has confidence in his new team.
"As long as everyone goes out and plays their role, we'll be a good team," said O'Neal, who signed a seven-year, $120 million free-agent contract with the Lakers.
Harris said he is impressed with Shaq, who is practicing despite a soft corn between his toes.
"I like them all," he said. "Shaq is playing as hard as he can in all of the practices and drills, even with an injury.
"Guys like Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic, and now him are guys who play through those things because they know the team needs them."
Denver is coming off of an injury-filled season. The Nuggets were 35-47 and finished fourth in the Midwest Division, missing the playoffs.
The Lakers play the Nuggets tomorrow and again on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., both games at the Special Events Arena on the University of Hawaii campus.
There are about 2,000 tickets remaining for tomorrow night's game and 500 for the Saturday game.
The Lakers open their regular season at home against Phoenix on Nov. 1.