Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (born March 6, 1972), often referred to by his nickname "Shaq", is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst. Standing tall, O'Neal played as a center for six different teams over his 19-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a four-time NBA champion, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and the 2000 NBA MVP. He is widely regarded as one of the most dominant centers in NBA history and one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
After playing college basketball for the LSU Tigers, O'Neal was selected by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 1992–93 and led his team to the 1995 NBA Finals. After four years with the Magic, O'Neal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. He and the Lakers won the NBA championship in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Amid a feud between O'Neal and his teammate Kobe Bryant, O'Neal was traded in 2004 to the Miami Heat, where he won his fourth NBA championship in 2006. During the last several years of his career he spent short stints with the Phoenix Suns, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
O'Neal's accolades include 15 All-Star Game selections, three All-Star Game MVP awards, 14 All-NBA team selections, three NBA All-Defensive Team selections and two scoring titles. He is one of three players to be named NBA MVP, All-Star Game MVP and Finals MVP in the same year. He ranks 9th all-time in points scored, 6th in field goals, 15th in rebounds, and 8th in blocks. He had a 58.2% career field goal percentage and led the league in field goal percentage ten times. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the FIBA Hall of Fame, and was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team and the NBA 75th Anniversary Team as one of the greatest players in league history.
In addition to his basketball career, O'Neal has released four rap albums, including the platinum-certified Shaq Diesel (1993) and the gold-certified Shaq Fu: Da Return (1994). Under the name Diesel, he produces electronic music and tours as a DJ. He has appeared in numerous films and has starred in reality shows such as Shaq Vs. and Shaq's Big Challenge. O'Neal is the general manager of the Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team.
Early life Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal was born on March 6, 1972, in Newark, New Jersey, to Joe Toney and Lucille O'Neal. Toney had played high school basketball and was offered a scholarship to play at Seton Hall. He struggled with drug addiction and was imprisoned for drug possession when O'Neal was an infant. Upon his release, he did not resume a place in O'Neal's life and relinquished his parental rights to O'Neal's stepfather, Phillip Arthur Harrison, a career Army sergeant. O'Neal remained estranged from Toney for decades and was not interested in establishing a relationship. In his 1994 single "Biological Didn't Bother", O'Neal called Harrison his father. Harrison died of a heart attack in 2013. O'Neal met Toney for the first time in 2016.
O'Neal's family moved many times during his childhood, sometimes staying with relatives, including O'Neal's grandmother in Jersey City. In addition to living in multiple cities in New Jersey, the family also lived in Georgia, Texas and Germany. In his 2002 autobiography, O'Neal wrote that he still considers Newark his home. He credited the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Newark with keeping him off the streets during his youth and giving him a safe place to play basketball. O'Neal's mother is Baptist and his stepfather was Muslim, and they taught him both religions.
O'Neal's parents were both over 6 feet (1.83 meters) tall, and by age thirteen O'Neal was tall. He played basketball at Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio, Texas, leading his team to a 68–1 record over two years and winning the state championship during his senior year. His 791 rebounds during the 1988-89 season remains a Texas record for a high school player. O'Neal wore the 33 jersey in high school because he admired Patrick Ewing, who wore 33. O'Neal's high school basketball team retired the 33 in 2014.
College career After graduating from high school in 1989, O'Neal studied business at Louisiana State University (LSU), where he joined the Theta Kappa chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He played basketball for the LSU Tigers under coach Dale Brown, whom he had met years earlier at the U.S. Army base in Wildflecken, West Germany, where his stepfather was stationed. While playing for LSU, O'Neal was a two-time All-American, two-time SEC Player of the Year, and received the Adolph Rupp Trophy as NCAA men's basketball player of the year in 1991. He was also named college player of the year by the Associated Press and UPI. O'Neal left LSU after three years to pursue his NBA career, but later returned to the university, earning a bachelor's degree in general studies with a minor in political science in 2000. He was later inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame. A bronze statue of O'Neal is located in front of the LSU Basketball Practice Facility.
Professional career Orlando Magic (1992–1996) Rookie of the Year (1992–1993) The Orlando Magic selected O'Neal with the 1st overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. In the summer before moving to Orlando, Florida, O'Neal spent time in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.Luke, Chelsea. (April 28, 2015). "College triple-double header: Kyle Collinsworth versus Shaquille O'Neal" . Retrieved June 17, 2015. When joining the Magic, he chose the 32 jersey because his veteran teammate Terry Catledge wore 33. O'Neal became the first NBA player to be named the Player of the Week in his first week in the league. During his rookie season, he averaged 23.4 points on 56.2% shooting, 13.9 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game. He was named the 1993 NBA Rookie of the Year and was the first rookie to be named an All-Star starter since Michael Jordan in 1985. The Magic finished the season 41–41, winning 20 more games than the previous season, but missed the playoffs via a tie-breaker with the Indiana Pacers. According to Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum, O'Neal wanted head coach Matty Guokas to be replaced by assistant coach Brian Hill.
First playoff appearance and All-NBA selection (1993–1994) In 1993–1994, O'Neal's second season, Hill served as coach and Guokas was reassigned to the front office. O'Neal improved his scoring average to 29.3 points (second in the league behind David Robinson) while leading the NBA in field goal percentage at 60%. On November 20, 1993, against the New Jersey Nets, O'Neal registered the first triple-double of his career, recording 24 points to go along with career highs of 28 rebounds and 15 blocks. He was selected for the All-Star game and the All-NBA 3rd Team. The Magic finished the season with a record of 50–32 and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. In his first playoff series, O'Neal averaged 20.7 points and 13.3 rebounds as the Magic were swept by the Pacers.
MVP runner-up, scoring champion, and NBA Finals debut (1994–1995) In O'Neal's third season, 1994–95, he led the NBA in scoring with a 29.3 point average. He finished second in MVP voting behind David Robinson and played in his third straight All-Star Game. O'Neal and Penny Hardaway formed one of the league's top duos and helped the Magic to a 57–25 record and the Atlantic Division title. The Magic won its first-ever playoff series against the Boston Celtics in the 1995 NBA playoffs, then defeated the Chicago Bulls in the conference semifinals and the Pacers in the conference finals. In the NBA Finals, the Magic faced the defending champion Houston Rockets, led by future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. During the Finals, O'Neal averaged 28 points on 59.5% shooting, 12.5 rebounds, and 6.3 assists, but the Rockets swept the Magic in four games.
Injuries and conference finals appearance (1995–1996) O'Neal was injured for a great deal of the 1995–96 season, missing 28 games. He averaged 26.6 points and 11 rebounds per game, made the All-NBA 3rd Team, and played in his 4th All-Star Game. Despite O'Neal's injuries, the Magic finished with a regular season record of 60–22, second in the Eastern conference to the Chicago Bulls, who finished with an NBA record 72 wins. Orlando easily defeated the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds of the 1996 NBA Playoffs; however, they were no match for Jordan's Bulls, who swept them in the Eastern Conference finals.
Los Angeles Lakers (1996–2004) O'Neal–Bryant tandem buildup (1996–1999)
O'Neal became a free agent after the 1995–96 NBA season. In the summer of 1996, O'Neal was named to the United States Olympic basketball team, and was later part of the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. While the Olympic basketball team was training in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel published a poll that asked whether the Magic should fire Hill if that were one of O'Neal's conditions for returning. 82% answered "no". O'Neal had a power struggle while playing under Hill. He said the team "just didn't respect [Hill]".O'Neal (2002); p. 52. "We just didn't respect him. Sometimes he went from nice to hardcore and people were looking around, like, 'This ain't the guy we know.'" Another question in the poll asked whether O'Neal was worth $115 million, in reference to the amount of the Magic's offer; 91.3% of the response said it was not. O'Neal's Olympic teammates teased him over the poll. He was also upset that the Orlando media implied O'Neal was not a good role model for having a child with his longtime girlfriend with no immediate plans to marry. O'Neal compared his lack of privacy in Orlando to "feeling like a big fish in a dried-up pond".O'Neal (2002); pp. 151. "When I was in Orlando, I really felt like a big fish in a small, dried-up pond. No matter what I did, it got talked about, until I couldn't really live my life."
On the team's first full day at the Olympics in Atlanta, the media announced that O'Neal would join the Los Angeles Lakers on a seven-year, $121 million contract. O'Neal insisted he did not choose Los Angeles for the money; while discussing the signing he referred to a couple of his product endorsements, saying: "I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok." O'Neal switched his jersey to No. 34 on the Lakers, as the No. 32 jersey he had worn in Orlando was retired in honor of Magic Johnson, and the No. 33 jersey he had worn at LSU was retired in honor of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The No. 34 jersey was also in honor of his stepfather, who wore that number in the Army. The Lakers won 56 games during the 1996–97 season. O'Neal averaged 26.2 points and 12.5 rebounds in his first season with Los Angeles; however, he again missed over 30 games due to injury. The Lakers made the playoffs, but were eliminated in the second round by the Utah Jazz in five games. In his first playoff game for the Lakers, O'Neal scored 46 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, the most for the Lakers in a playoff game since Jerry West had 53 in 1969. On December 17, 1996, O'Neal shoved Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls; Rodman's teammates Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan restrained Rodman and prevented further conflict. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that O'Neal was willing to be suspended for fighting Rodman, and O'Neal said: "It's one thing to talk tough and one thing to be tough."