NBA 75: At No. 8, Shaquille O'Neal was a dominant physical force who had an outsized personality to match (2024)

(Editor’s note: Welcome back toThe Athletic NBA 75. We’re re-running our top 40 players to count down every day from Sept. 8-Oct. 17, the day before the opening of the 2022-23NBA season. This piece was first published on Feb. 9, 2022.)

He’s lovable. The 7-foot-1 teddy bear with the animated general selling auto insurance. He’s on the cover of Frosted Flakes and is a pizza pitchman with an executive role at Papa John’s. You might be able to relate to him if you treat your back pain with Icy Hot. He has gold (Gold Bond and an Olympic medal), and don’t forget about the weekly back-and-forths with Charles Barkley on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”

Shaquille O’Neal may be retired from the NBA, but he is everywhere.

For a certain generation, it’s hard to imagine O’Neal as one of the greatest basketball players ever. But the playful big man was a punishing athlete who didn’t just dunk. “The Diesel” dunked through opponents, leaving bodies and broken backboards in his wake. And not just backboards, like Darryl Dawkins did, but whole stanchions. He did it while having fun and while intimidating opposing big men.

For the play that best captures that, let’s rewind to March 25, 1999, as the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the New York Knicks. O’Neal receives a pass in the post from Kobe Bryant and backs down Knicks center Chris Dudley. Before Dudley reacts, he is under the rim as O’Neal spins to face the basket for a nasty dunk. Dudley’s face ends up in Shaq’s torso. O’Neal kicks out his legs — just like his Dunkman logo — as Dudley hangs on to O’Neal’s legs for dear life. The dunk was powerful and disrespectful enough, but, Shaq adds a shove at the end as if he were a big sibling pushing a little brother to the ground. It was powerful, skillful and a bit petty.

Dudley falls to the Great Western Forum floor and then gets up and chucks the ball at O’Neal.

It’s OK, Chris. You weren’t the first or the last to feel the wrath of Shaq, who is No. 8 in The Athletic’s NBA 75 list of greatest players. O’Neal is a top-10 player because he was the most dominant physical force of his generation. His combination of size, strength and basketball IQ made him a once-in-a-lifetime talent. From his NBA arrival in 1992 in Orlando until his retirement in 2011, O’Neal was a larger-than-life personality and player who took entertaining the fans as seriously as overpowering opponents.

“The biggest star of stars,” said Tyronn Lue, LA Clippers coach and former teammate of O’Neal for three seasons with the Lakers. “I think he was an instant draw at Lakers games, him and Kobe (Bryant), with what they meant to the Lakers and what they meant to the city of L.A.”

And it wasn’t only Los Angeles. Just how massive was O’Neal’s presence? He was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary team in 1996 — a mere four seasons into his career.

Dominique Wilkins wasn’t on that team. Neither was Bob McAdoo, the 1975 NBA MVP who led the league in scoring three consecutive times. Both were certified legends, but there was Shaq, only 24, already taking his place among the game’s all-time greats. It was not well-received by everyone, but Shaq lived up to the lofty recognition from early in his career to cement himself as perhaps the most physically dominant post presence in league history, with only Wilt Chamberlain being in the conversation. He was like nothing the league had seen, even with Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson among the best bigs in the league.

“He was just bigger and stronger and faster than all of the other guys,” said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who was traded to Orlando in December 1992. “As good as Patrick Ewing was, as good as Hakeem Olajuwon was, David Robinson, those guys were all Hall of Famers, amazing players. With every one of those opponents, Shaq was either bigger, stronger or faster or a combination of everything.

“He was much bigger than Hakeem, he was much thicker than David, he was much faster than Patrick. It was like he always had this physical advantage. Because he was so raw and so young, the other guys had skill advantage over him and that’s what he had to work on those first few years in the league.”

A “raw” O’Neal averaged 23.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in winning NBA Rookie of the Year, the start of what would become one of the greatest runs by one of the greatest centers of all time.

O’Neal is the last true center to be the focal point of a championship team (if you believe Tim Duncan is not a center). He won three consecutive NBA Finals MVPs (2000-02), something only Michael Jordan (twice) has done.

O’Neal is a four-time NBA champion, twice a league scoring champion and the 2000 league MVP. He was a 15-time All-Star, winning All-Star MVP three times. O’Neal was named to 14 All-NBA teams, including eight first-team selections. He retired with 28,596 points, eighth in league history.

He also changed the game away from the court. Big men weren’t often the life of the party. Some gave off a vibe of being uncomfortable or just frustrated with being so tall. Not O’Neal. He had a magnetic charm and swagger that drew fans and teammates to him.

“The thing that stood out most was his zest for life,” Kerr said. “He had this incredible presence and personality that went beyond being a big guy. Most big guys that I’d been around were withdrawn, not exactly charismatic, quiet, and this guy was just a force from a personality, presence standpoint.

“So you could see there was something really special, not just talent-wise, but just in terms of who he was as a person.”

He was 7-foot-1 and a muscular 294 pounds when he entered the NBA and played over 300 pounds at his peak (he was listed at 325 pounds during his title runs). His shoulders were so broad that he made even the biggest of NBA big men look like they were small forwards. If the NBA had a Paul Bunyan-esque figure, it was O’Neal. Besides the brute strength that made stopping his dunks impossible, O’Neal also was remarkably light on his feet. He was no plodding lug through the paint. O’Neal was blessed with immaculate footwork, a quick first step and nice touch around the rim that he’d show off on his turnaround jumper or hook shot.

“That’s what made him incredible in one sense — the fact that he was the biggest, strongest man in the league, but he was fast,” former teammate Luke Walton said. “He could pass the ball, but he played in the triangle offense, so there’s no just pick-and-roll, and he understood the game; he was smart, he was a student of the game.

“The fact he was that big and had that type of skill and understanding of the game makes him one of the greatest centers of all time. If he was just big, he wouldn’t have won the (number) of championships he won.”

Like George Mikan and Wilt Chamberlain, great centers who played before him, O’Neal changed the game with his dominance and size. He demoralized so many defenders that the NBA allowed zone defenses to return in 2001-02. It might as well have been called the Shaq Zone Defense provision. Nothing says dominant quite like the league changing rules just to give the opposition a chance.

“It was difficult to (defend) against Shaq because you had to do it individually,” said O’Neal’s Lakers coach Phil Jackson to HuffPost Live in 2013. “You could double-team, but you had to do it in a certain way, and Shaq was a great passer of the post. He was the man that changed the game into what we have now in this era, which has eliminated a lot of post play, which is OK.

“You should be able to play basketball however you want to play it, but Shaq’s dominance changed the game.”

The best defense against O’Neal was to put him on the free-throw line. He shot 52.7 percent from the line for his career, and “Hack-a-Shaq” became a popular tactic. But he wasn’t the first. Teams intentionally fouled Chamberlain so much that a rule was established. Players who were intentionally fouled away from the ball in the final two minutes got two free throws and his team retained possession. The NBA contemplated rule changes to stop the constant delays in games due to the fouling of O’Neal, but that didn’t occur until 2016-17, after he had retired.

O’Neal wasn’t just a star in Los Angeles. He was an icon who was just as big as any Hollywood star or chart-topping musical artist. He was Shaq – the most dominant player on the court and one of the biggest presences off it.

“I think when Shaq (signed) here, it just changed the whole dynamic of L.A.,” Lue said. “How he was with the media, how he was with his teammates, how he was with the fans, so he was huge. He was probably one of the biggest people in L.A. at the time.”

When things fell apart with the Lakers after a 2004 NBA Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons and constant bickering with Bryant, O’Neal was traded to Miami. Within two seasons, the Heat were champions. At his best, O’Neal on your team meant you were a title contender. He reached the NBA Finals with Orlando, the Lakers and Miami.

There are many accolades, but there are critics who believe O’Neal should have been even more dominant if he had been more serious about the game.

Early in his career, O’Neal was a platinum-selling rapper who also starred in movies. His fun-loving persona endeared him to fans, but critics said he should have focused more on the game.

After losing in the 1995 NBA Finals when the Magic were swept by the Rockets, O’Neal played one more season for Orlando before bolting to Los Angeles, where it was assumed he’d be a champion in short order. But the cries about O’Neal being distracted grew as the Lakers were being knocked out of the playoffs by Utah and San Antonio. Though O’Neal was a three-time NBA All-Defense second-team selection, the naysayers stated that he was a defensive liability, especially against the pick-and-roll.

More importantly, for all the accolades, records sales and movies made that were panned by critics, the biggest knock on him was that he wasn’t a champion. He famously said, “I’ve won at every level except college and the pros.”

That all changed in 2000, when a driven O’Neal paired with Bryant and led the Lakers on a run of three consecutive titles. O’Neal put up otherworldly numbers during his second NBA Finals appearance, averaging 38 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 blocks per game in annihilating Indiana.

That also was O’Neal’s only regular-season MVP award. He averaged a career-high 29.7 points (led the league), 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.0 blocks. O’Neal led in field goal percentage (.574), one of 10 times he paced the NBA. He also averaged a career-high 40 minutes, which might be the most remarkable stat given his size and the beating he took from defenders who threw themselves on and at him.

In 2001, O’Neal helped put away Philadelphia, a team that threw Hall of Famer and four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Dikembe Mutombo and other 7-footers at O’Neal. It didn’t matter, as O’Neal won another NBA Finals MVP by averaging 33 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.4 blocks. The Lakers swept New Jersey in 2002 with O’Neal averaging 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.8 blocks for his third consecutive NBA Finals MVP.

Along the way, O’Neal had a knack for irking his opponents; for him, it was just part of the entertainment. He called the Sacramento Kings the “Queens” (a comment for which he later apologized for making). After the Lakers went through the Kings in a seven-game Western Conference finals in 2002 en route to their third title, O’Neal declared Sacramento was no longer the capital of California.

His fans loved it. His critics, well, there were always going to be critics.

But even with success, came drama. Bryant publicly complained about O’Neal not being in shape. O’Neal complained the young star was selfish. Some of Bryant’s disdain could be traced back to the 2002-03 season when O’Neal delayed surgery on an injured toe and missed the start of the season because he was going to “heal on company time.” Bryant took a beating; the Lakers started the season 11-19 and ended the season fifth in the West before being eliminated by the Spurs in the conference semifinals.

The most dynamic 1-2 combo in the league split after that loss in the NBA Finals to Detroit, in which O’Neal’s conditioning was questioned as was Bryant’s decision-making. The Lakers siding with the younger, seemingly more committed Bryant, traded O’Neal to Miami.

But O’Neal wasn’t washed up. A rededicated O’Neal helped the Heat reach the Eastern Conference finals and the 2006 NBA Finals. But instead of being the centerpiece, O’Neal did what he didn’t do in L.A. and willingly deferred to the emerging guard Dwyane Wade, who led the Heat to a title in six games over the Dallas Mavericks and won NBA Finals MVP.

Miami traded O’Neal to Phoenix in February 2008 after a rough start to the season and a rift with Pat Riley. The deal to the Suns was unique in that coach Mike D’Antoni implemented his Seven Seconds or Less offense in part to counter O’Neal when he was with the Lakers. Now, an older O’Neal could be used to counter an old nemesis, Duncan, should the Spurs be a problem for the Suns in the postseason.

“He did a lot of good things for us, gave us a different look down on the low block,” said Kerr, who was Phoenix’s general manager at the time. “It was an interesting experiment. We kind of felt at the time that our championship hopes as a small-ball team had kind of passed us by, so we took a big swing.

“He was beyond his prime at the time, though, so it was a lot to expect him to lead us to a title, but he did a good job of coming in and adapting. Mike D’Antoni put him on the high post as a passer quite a bit, as well as on the low post to open up the floor. I thought he adapted well to what Mike asked him to do.”

Kerr said O’Neal’s time in the triangle offense under Jackson allowed him to make such an adjustment. Much of that offense ran through O’Neal, who was a good passer and could read the floor well.

“He was a really smart player,” Kerr said. “I think everything came together for him in L.A. Phil Jackson was great for him and vice versa, and I think he took that experience from L.A. and carried that knowledge, that basketball IQ. I think it carried forward and allowed him to play deeper into his age than a lot of people would have guessed.”

O’Neal was an All-Star the following season, in 2009, winning co-All-Star MVP with Bryant as the former teammates were all smiles on that night. But there would be no return to the NBA Finals for O’Neal, who would make stops in Cleveland and Boston before retiring in 2011.

Bryant and O’Neal ended up on good terms before Bryant’s death in 2020, and that’s how most remember O’Neal as a teammate. For as punishing as he was off the court, he could be as caring and gracious off it. He defended his teammates, too.

“He was a fantastic teammate from a standpoint of he made everything fun,” Walton said. “He was hard on the rookies, but on the court, he had our backs. Anytime someone would mess with us, Shaq would punish them for us.

“And when you’re a rookie and you’re the son of a former player, especially one with a big mouth like Bill (Walton), there were some players that like to try to make life hard on you. And anytime someone would mess with me, he would tell me to bring them off a screen, and he would lay them out for me. So, I love Shaq.”

That love for his teammates extended off the court. He had a knack for making everyone feel included and did what he could to involve teammates in his endeavors.

“Every time we were in cities, he’d have limos waiting out front, and he’d take us all out to dinner, or he’d take us to whatever he was doing,” Walton said. “Everyone else on the team would have options; if they wanted to go, they could join. He would tell me and Brian Cook, the other rookie, ‘Not optional for you two.’

“So whatever he wanted, we had to do, but he had our backs. He was so much fun; he was dominant, and it was a lot of fun to play with him.”

There aren’t centers in the NBA like O’Neal anymore. Not that his combination of size, strength and skill can’t be duplicated, but these days, centers who don’t shoot the 3 and play on the perimeter are a rare group. Offenses aren’t centered around big men such as O’Neal who planted themselves in the paint and made you pay.

But could a player such as Shaquille O’Neal work in today’s NBA?

“He would average 60,” Lue said. “All the small ball and all that, you wouldn’t be able to do that, not even a chance. And now they’re putting in all these shooting fives and putting fours at the five and threes at the five position; he’d average 60 points, and everybody on the team would foul out.

“The way they play today, with Shaq, you’d never get away with that.”

— The Athletic’s Law Murray contributed to this feature

Career NBA stats: G: 1,207, Pts.: 23.7, Reb.: 10.9, Ast.: 2.5, FG%: 58.2, FT%: 52.7, Win Shares: 181.7, PER: 26.4

The AthleticNBA 75 Panel points: 1,009 |Hollinger GOAT Points: 474.6

Achievements: NBA MVP (’00), 14-time All-NBA, 15-time All-Star, NBA champ (’00, ’01, ’02, ’06), NBA Finals MVP (’00, ’01, ’02), Rookie of the Year (’93), Scoring champ (’95, ’00), FG% champ (’94, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’04, ’05, ’06, 09), Olympic gold (’96), Hall of Fame (’16), NBA at 50 (’96) NBA 75th Anniversary team (’21)

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(Illustration: Wes McCabe / The Athletic; Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE via Getty Images)