NBA: Alex McKechnie on leap of faith that took him to star physio

O’Neal, with his trophy assets, was sent to McKechnie’s clinic in Vancouver for expert opinion.

Patience, it turns out, is not O’Neal’s virtue.

“I got this call from the limo driver and the security guards saying ‘we’re coming,'” McKechnie recalls. “I go, ‘sorry, I won’t see you until 1.30.’ And they say, ‘we want to come now.’

“I said, ‘You have to sit down and wait. There are people here that I work with. I can’t just walk away.'”

They hung up the phone. 1.30 came and went. O’Neal’s party changed direction and returned to Los Angeles.

The next day, LA Lakers orthopedic surgeon Steve Lombardo called McKechnie to apologize and ask if he would see O’Neal the following week and come to downtown Vancouver for a consultation.

The answer was very short. “No, Shaq can see me at my clinic. End of story.”

Turns out they thought it was worth the effort.

“Shaquille comes with his bodyguards, his friends, his coaches and trainers; I was just swarming with people,” McKechnie says.

“The big guy walked in and we sat down. At this point I think this could go any way, any direction.”

The prescribed Core-X treatment program, based on achieving harmony between muscles in different parts of the body, was unusual at the time.

But it worked wonders. O’Neal soon returned to the court for the Lakers without surgery.

“It brought me back,” a grateful O’Neal said. “I was dead and he brought me back.”

Just four days after the initial consultation, McKechnie was flown to Los Angeles and provided with a court to maintain his exclusive use throughout the grueling NBA season.

Accepting the job offer meant a change of pace; but access to all areas in one of the most famous and magnificent clubs in global sport.