Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal thinks Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss is making excuses for taking Kobe Bryant's side when the players were feuding as teammates with the Lakers.

O'Neal was responding to Buss' recent comments in the Los Angeles Times that trading O'Neal to Miami was the correct decision. O'Neal said Buss isn't an "honest businessman" because he won't state the real reasons behind the deal.

"Everybody knows what that is really about," O'Neal told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "He had to make a choice, the young guy [Bryant] or the old guy. He made his choice, and good luck with his choice."

Buss told the Times last week he would make the same decision "100 out of 100 times. To me, the risk-reward ratio wasn't there.

"It was not only a question of whether the man was going to be in shape, but what were his true salary demands going to be."

O'Neal responded in the Sun-Sentinel: "How many years was Phil there? And how many years we went to the Finals? ... And how many points did I average and how many times was I the MVP?"