Scott Bordow

Shaquille O’Neal has had a lot of nicknames in his career.

Here’s one the Phoenix Suns hope he has come June: The Big Solution.

The Suns’ eternal quest for a big man spit out the 36-year-old O’Neal Wednesday night against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

It was high theatre. Great drama. A 130-124 Lakers’ victory. And what did we learn about the Shaq Experiment after one game? It’s too soon to tell.

Look, the Suns didn’t acquire O’Neal to win games in February. He was brought in to win games in April. And May. And, most of all June.

So to judge him after 29 minutes — particularly when he’s just getting used to the Suns and they’re just getting used to him — would be foolish.

But we will say this: O’Neal may not be the old man we thought he was.

O’Neal had 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots in the Suns’ loss, but the numbers weren’t as important as the way he played.

He dove to the floor for loose balls. He got back on defense and kept up with Phoenix’s breakneck style offensively. He even sprinted to the other end of the floor after Bryant was called for goaltending on his jump shot.

For a 36-year-old man who hadn’t played in a month and supposedly has the joints of an arthritic senior citizen, it was a debut filled with possibilities, if not answers.

“I felt pretty good,” O’Neal said. “I’m in better shape than I thought I was.”

The Suns treated Shaq’s first game as if he was royalty, introducing a video montage that ended with O’Neal standing tall along the downtown Phoenix skyline.

Cameras followed Shaq’s every move. When he and Bryant embraced at midcourt before the game, so many flashes went off you would have thought Barack Obama was hugging Hillary Clinton.

Shaq was the biggest thing to hit town — both figuratively and literally — since the Suns acquired Charles Barkley in 1992.

And to make his Suns’ debut against Bryant? Priceless.

But for the first three quarters, O’Neal was the Big Role Player.

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He let Steve Nash and Amaré Stoudemire be the Alpha Males offensively — “I told them, ‘Don’t run the offense through me,” Shaq said — and was a non-factor on the defensive end.

In fact, it was readily apparent that the Lakers were not only the better team — remember, they were missing center Andrew Bynum — but Pau Gasol was a more significant pickup than O’Neal.

Were there moments the Shaq of old showed up?

Absolutely.

He made a rim-rattling dunk over DJ Mbenga that brought the house down. He showed off his nifty passing skills, once finding Leandro Barbosa with a no-look pass for an easy layup.

But for the most part, he didn’t look like he was worth the $40 million the Suns will pay him the next two seasons.

Then the fourth quarter happened, and Superman got his cape out of mothballs.

O’Neal scored seven straight points in a 2-minute and 45-second stretch. He dunked off a Nash lob pass. He slammed home a Stoudemire miss. He hit a jump hook over Gasol.