The Los Angeles Lakers, and specifically Magic Johnson, shocked the basketball world on Tuesday night when the NBA legend announced that he would be walking away from his position as President of Basketball Operations for the franchise he starred with for quite some time.

With this news rocking the entire league, it was only a matter of time until one of the Lakers' many legends chimed in on the decision as Shaquille O'Neal was working Thursday night's NBA on TNT slate from their studio in Atlanta and, as you would expect, he had some strong opinions on the subject.

"I respect his decision, but the game & the business must go on."



-Shaq reacts to Magic Johnson stepping down as Lakers' President of Basketball Operations. pic.twitter.com/GAXqUdbCOU — NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 10, 2019

As you can see from the video clip above, courtesy of Turner Sports, O'Neal stated that he respected Johnson's decision to walk away from his post in the front office but made it clear that this is obviously a business and now Jeanie Buss and the rest of the Lakers' brain trust will have to formulate a plan for what the path of the organization will be moving forward as Johnson was a key reason why future Hall of Famer LeBron James elected to sign a four-year deal with the team this past summer.

Naturally, while it may be tough to pull off, O'Neal suggested that Jerry West would be the right person to take hold of the franchise from this point forward in hopes of leading them back to prominence in the Western Conference.

With this, likely, being one of the biggest stories of the offseason, fans should expect to continue to hear more and more about Johnson's decision and who Los Angeles ultimately tabs as his replacement a lot over the coming weeks and months.