LOS ANGELES — Shaquille O’Neal’s first response when asked about the recent interview in which Kobe said he would’ve picked LeBron James over Shaq if he were an All-Star captain in 2005, was pretty much perfect.

As he was standing in the middle of the American Express Experience in Downtown LA on Thursday, while talking to For The Win on behalf of the credit card company, Shaq said:

“If you look at the rules, whoever got the most votes got to be the pick, that would’ve been me. But, I’m not offended by that. He (Kobe) gotta pick who he gotta pick. Being that we played together all the time, he wants to play with somebody different. I understand that.”

Additionally, Shaq, who was wearing the biggest pair of Toms I have ever seen, talked to FTW about his best advice for parents trying to help their kids succeed in sports and the best basketball advice he has ever received.

He also said that he’s going to take this chair from inside the Lakers vault at the Amex Experience home with him when the All-Star Weekend is over.

As a 15-time All-Star, what’s your favorite All-Star moment?

Any time I was the host, I always tried to show out and make sure I get MVP, make sure players got around safely, gave them my restaurant connections. It’s just the time to showcase yourself for the fans, and you have to be proud to be selected as an All-Star so you just go out and represent, just do the best you can. My favorite part would be all the ones I got MVP in.

Do you think guys should be playing harder?

Yep, definitely. A lot of guys worry about getting hurt. One thing you can never prevent is a freak accident. Guys talking about getting hurt, they’re actually talking about they’re not preventable. If you’re blowing hamstrings you’re not in good enough shape to be named an All-Star. Guys should just go out and compete and play hard.

How long is it going to be until your son Shareef (a talented 18-year-old who committed to play basketball at Arizona last year) is in the All-Star Game?

I don’t know. Three years of college, rookie games, less than 10 years, I’ll say that.

What’s your best advice for other sports parents trying to help their kids succeed?

Don’t push it. Don’t pressure them. Us as parents, everything we wanted, we accomplished by ourselves. You gotta let them want it. The good thing about Shareef is that as a father with connections, I’m proud to say I never had to call an AAU coach to say put him on the team, never had to call a college and say, ‘Hey, you want to look at my boy?’ Because he’s worked hard, he’s done it his way, and as a parent, you can sit back. To me, it’s deja vu parenting, same thing my father did. I focus on education. I told all my kids: ‘We don’t need another NBA player. We need some lawyers. We need some hedge fund managers. We need some real estate professionals. We need some engineers.’ That’s what I really push them in. I don’t really push them in sports.

What was it like filming the Uncle Drew movie with so many other sports legends?

It was long and fun. You get there at 8, takes three hours to put the makeup on. Every day. So 11, then you gotta do the table read, 12. It was very long, but it was fun. Great script, Kyrie did a great job, Nate Robinson, Lisa Leslie, C Webb, Reggie Miller, it was actually fun to shoot.

Who had the best acting skills?

Me. I got 17 movies.

Your 46th birthday is coming up, is there anything else you want to accomplish? You’ve done almost everything already.

Just have fun, I take advantage of good opportunities that are going to help people. I’m focusing on doing stuff like for example, my Shaq shoes. There’s too many superstars charging kids $100 for shoes, so I’ll be the only one charging people $30 for shoes, and that’s been a very, very successful business for me. Obviously I didn’t do it for money because I’m making far less money than I did, but social change, kids can be proud about wearing something that looks like it’s $100 but is very affordable, so whenever I focus on things like that, businesses are always good.

What’s the best basketball advice you’ve ever received?

Best basketball advice I have ever received is pressure is when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. If you walk around the streets and see a homeless guy, that’s pressure. When you get paid millions of dollars to play ball, shouldn’t be any pressure. My father told me that, he took me out on the street and we had a conversation with a homeless family. I was like I’m just a spoiled brat right now. This is pressure, so that’s the best advice I’ve ever received.

What’s the best prank you’ve ever pulled?

I can’t tell you because it’s rated R.