By Brian A. Lester

Look out NBA, Shaquille O'Neal is back.

Shaq's return from the most famous toe injury in sports is indeed bad news for everyone else with championship aspirations.

A Lakers team with Shaq in the lineup is arguably one of the best of all time, and it's hard to not to think that Los Angeles won't be celebrating another title come June.

Should we really care that the Indiana Pacers are hotter than Arizona summer right now, or that the Dallas Mavericks are on flirting with perhaps the best regular-season record in the history of the game? Unless those two teams can win in June against the Lakers, their regular-season accomplishments will matter little.

Sure, the Lakers have struggled mightily without Shaq. Their abysmal 3-9 record has proven that even with a great player such as Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are merely another good team in the league. But with Shaq, the Lakers are the standard by which others measure success. They have dominated the league with relative ease when it mattered most, and have turned the NBA Finals into nothing more than an extended coronation ceremony.

Shaq makes the Lakers tick much the way Michael Jordan made the Bulls tick during their reign of dominance in the last decade.

If Shaq goes down, the dynasty does as well, consumed by flames that not even Bryant and the other Lakers are capable of putting out.

For the record, Shaq made his official return last Friday against the Chicago Bulls, a team trying to emerge from the ashes created when Jordan said goodbye for the second time in his storied career.

Shaq finished the night with 17 points and 7 rebounds in a bit over 20 minutes of action, which isn't bad considering how long he has been a spectator.

In due time, Shaq will return to his usual self, Bryant will elevate his game to another level because of it, and the Lakers will proceed to slice through the competition like scissors through paper.

Come June, the Lakers will be the champions, basking in the glow of making history.

That is, of course, unless Shaq hurts his toe again.

Brian Lester is a sportswriter in Ohio and can be reached via e-mail at BAL4@hotmail.com.