Playing for both the Los Angeles Lakers and their arch rivals, the Boston Celtics, is a bold move for any NBA player.
When a very old Shaquille O'Neal suited up for his 19th and final pro season, there were some grumblings in the Lakers community about his decision to chase a ring with the Boston Celtics, at that point led by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, during their 2010-11 season.
Abandoning one of the league's two winningest franchises for the other is borderline sacrilege.
But that's exactly what Rick Fox did in the summer of 1997, when the 6-foot-7 small forward — who was drafted by Boston out of North Carolina in 1991 with No. 24 pick — departed the Celtics to sign with a loaded Lakers squad.
Perhaps more stunningly, he left major money on the table.
That summer, Boston brought in college coach Rick Pitino to serve as both its head coach and team president, in an effort to revive what at the time was a flagging franchise.
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Team captain Fox had verbally agreed to a new seven-season, $33 million contract to stay with the Celtics through his early 30s. Pitino, however, opted to sign Travis Knight for a cheaper deal.
Legendary Boston executive Red Auerbach apologized to Fox personally, and the Celtics requested that he hold off 90 days so that the money could work out for them to sign him to the deal again, but he opted to reject the request.
During a new interview on the "Giant Ideas" podcast, Fox explained how it all went down.
“I was the hottest free agent on the market because I was a guy worth $33-40 million that could only sign for a million dollars,” Fox said.
At that point, Fox sought out the best deal for himself in terms of championship equity, not money. He signed with the Lakers, who at that time fielded a title-ready roster with All-Stars O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel.
“No amount of money was going to stop me from finding the best scenario and the best teammates and the best coaches to play with going forward,” Fox said. “I knew that the Lakers were committed to championships as well. And they said I was the glue. They said I was the missing piece.”
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O'Neal, Bryant, and then-Lakers general manager Jerry West, a Hall of Fame former Lakers superstar and Celtics nemesis himself, were actively recruiting Fox.
“I said, ‘I want to play 12 years and win three championships. And I got that because of Larry Bird. He had played 12 years and won three that championships at that point. So that was my next blueprint.”
Under head coach Del Harris that season, Los Angeles went 61-21 and advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by the Karl Malone-John Stockton era Utah Jazz. Harris was subsequently dismissed after a 6-6 start to the lockout-shortend 1998-99 season, and ultimately replaced by former Showtime-era Laker Kurt Rambis.
Fox proved to be a critical star in his role for L.A., a feisty two-way talent who was never afraid to throw down.
That time Rick Fox and Doug Christie got into it during a preseason game. Miss the Lakers-Kings rivalry. pic.twitter.com/YD7CgX6JB7
— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) July 17, 2018
The Lakers, with Fox, then hired the best coach in the league, Phil Jackson, and quickly went on to win three straight championships from the 1999-2000 season through 2001-02.
All told, Fox spent seven seasons with Los Angeles, appearing in four NBA Finals and winning the aforementioned three straight. In 486 regular season games (352 starts), Fox averaged 8.7 points on .436/.349/.770 shooting splits, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals a night.
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