When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers' star power, one of the biggest to wear a purple and yellow jersey was Shaquille O'Neal. The 7-foot-1 center was part of multiple championship teams while there, as he and Kobe Bryant teamed up for three titles. However, they also had their issues. Shaq recently commented on the issues troubling LeBron James and the Lakers, lending his opinion based on his former playing days.

Shaq discusses LeBron's tactics, Kobe beef

It's no secret lately that LeBron James has shown frustration in recent games for the L.A.

Lakers. That's included his demeanor sitting on the bench, the way he shrugs off media questions, or a bad inbounds pass. It's also included him leaving the court before the game ended, calling out individual defensive breakdowns, and even yelling at teammates for mistakes. A case in point was when LeBron screamed at Mo Wagner during the loss to the Suns.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Shaquille O'Neal recently discussed the topic of LeBron calling out his teammates on his "Shaqcast" show. Basically, Shaq defended King James. The former Lakers big said, "If you ain't steppin up, I'm tellin you like this, I'm callin you out." Shaq also called it a "tactic" for LeBron to call out his fellow Lakers players.

O'Neal brought up former teammate Kobe Bryant saying, "I did that s—- all the time. Why do you think Kobe and me had beef?"

Shaq is referring to the intense feud that he and the Black Mamba had during some of their infamous playing days together for the Lakers.

The two have since patched all that up, but it was a glaring issue back in the Lakers' heyday. Ultimately, Shaq ended up leaving Los Angeles while Kobe stuck around to win a few more titles and retire with the team.

Lakers try to bounce back, Walton on hot seat

The Los Angeles Lakers have another important game on the schedule for Monday night.

While each and every game carries importance as they need wins, Monday's features a battle at Staples Center with the Los Angeles Clippers. Right now, that's the team the Lakers trail by 4.5 games for the No. 8 team in the Western Conference. A win in the building would go a long way towards gaining some ground on the distance between the two teams.

A loss would be another story completely. This L.A. Clippers team has shown they are better than the Phoenix Suns this season, even after trading away Tobias Harris to the Sixers. The Lakers will need to really step up their game. That may mean LeBron needs to lead by example and guide his squad to victory rather than taking out frustrations on the court.

Of course, losing his cool and the Los Angeles Lakers losing games, at this point, could just be a signal for better times ahead when the team tries to go after big free agents this summer. That could include players of the caliber of Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, or several others. There were even Kevin Durant to the Lakers rumors that still could materialize.

In addition to all that, there may be a big coaching change on the way. Luke Walton's poor decisions to bench players at key moments or the plays he's calling up are just not working.

Usually, the blame game starts with a head coach, especially when he has the league's top superstar of modern times. With that in mind, the recent belief around the league (per the New York Times' Marc Stein) that there will be a Luke Walton firing after the season doesn't seem too farfetched.

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