Shaquille O’Neal Says Lakers Will Make Playoffs, ‘Probably Not’ Winning Championship – TMZ.com

Good news, bad news, Lakers fans — Shaquille O’Neal says LeBron James‘ squad WILL turn things around and make the playoffs this season … but, bringing home a championship “probably” ain’t happening.

TMZ Sports talked to the Big Fella at his “Shaq’s Fun House” Super Bowl party on Friday … and he kept it a buck about the Lake Show’s title hopes as they sit near the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 26-30 record.

“They definitely will make the playoffs,” Shaq says … adding there’s always pressure within the Lakers organization to be the best.

“This was one of the hardest franchises I ever had to play for,” Shaq says.

“I remember when I came here, Jerry West said, ‘Look, I know you do movies, I know you do rap albums and all that,’ But, he made me look up [in the rafters] and I seen Wilt [Chamberlain] and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and he said, ‘At the end of this, you’re either going to be a bust or you’re going to be a legend.’ So, those guys have to decide how they want to be remembered.”

Shaq believes the problem is this Lakers team is old and playing like it … but if they bring the energy for all 48 minutes each game, they’ll start to find more success against the younger teams in the league.

Of course, O’Neal knows a thing or two about winning in L.A. — he helped the Purple and Gold with 3-straight titles from 2000-2002 … something he paid tribute to during his DJ Diesel set at the party.

The current Lakers seem far from locking in title #18 this year … and James Worthy recently said his former team is at the “lowest point” he’s ever seen.