Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal buried the hatchet on Shaq’s podcast that was released on Monday. (Will Lester/Staff Photographer)

After collecting too many nicknames to count, former Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal will likely be able to call himself something else.

Hall of Famer.

O’Neal became eligible as a first-ballot candidate to become inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, with festivities taking place from Sept 8-10. O’Neal is strongly expected to receive enough consideration after ending his 20-year NBA career with four NBA championships, a fifth-place standing on the league’s all-time scoring list (29,596), three Finals MVPS, one regular season MVP and 15 All-Star appearances.

O’Neal retired in 2011, but his eligibility was pushed up a year after the Hall switched from a requisite five-year waiting period to four.

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