Shaquille O’Neal during his playing days was a force of nature. Despite his size, the 7’1″ center glided through the court with ease in bulldozing motion to assert his dominance between the buckets.
But no one escapes the hands of time as after years of staying on top, Shaquille O’Neal revealed how he understood his days on the hardwood were up, and he had explained it in the most Shaq way. He not only addressed the pressing matter but also left a hilarious blow on a former colleague Dwight Howard.
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Shaquille O’Neal talks on decision to end NBA career
In an episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq”, the 52-year-old discussed the last days of his playing career when he got drained easily and did not put up the numbers on the scoreboard that he once used to. The 4-time NBA champion said, “When I pumped faked for the dunk and I look at the stats, I had nine points. I’m like, ‘This ain’t fu****g Shaq, this is Dwight Howard.”
While explaining his fall in numbers the ever-vocal Shaquille O’Neal took a dig at his long-time rival, Dwight Howard. Their beef dates back to the time when Howard arrived at the 2008 dunk contest in a Superman costume. Shaq took offense to that as he was called the Superman in the league before Dwight was drafted.
Despite calling out Howard for his comparatively lower numbers over the years, O’Neal confessed that Dwight was like his younger brother and he criticized him to push him for the better.
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The 15-time All-Star had a physical advantage over his opponents which made it hard for his contemporaries to block him alone. His exceptional ball-handling scoring skills helped him to secure the 9th spot in the NBA All-time scoring list. Although Shaq was a force to be reckoned with in his younger days, he put on weight and grew slower towards the end of his career. The Big Aristotle even admitted to ring chasing in the latter stage of his career before finally calling it a day in 2011.
O’Neal recalls being happy despite injury
Before his aforementioned retirement, the Boston Celtics signed a two-year contract with O’Neal expecting to lay their hands on the championship title again with the big man on their squad in 2010. Shaq’s Achilles injury shattered their dreams, however, the NBA great recently claimed that he was happy with the injury.
While discussing his end days, O’Neal expressed his thrill with the injury, “I was actually happy I got hurt. And then I was at home like, ‘I got a million and a half on this last year deal. Do I want to do a Shaq tour or do I wanna come back?’ I’m like, ‘Fuck it, I’m done.’”
While playing for the Boston franchise, he missed a chunk of games throughout the 2010-2011 season due to injuries on his knee, calf, hip, right leg, and Achilles.
When he started putting up poor numbers on the score sheet, he knew, “Father Time has caught up with Shaquille O’Neal” as he explained earlier during his retirement. O’Neal played a total of 37 games for Boston averaging 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks.
After being missing from the court for two months due to an Achilles injury, he came back to play for 5 minutes and received another injury ending his regular season career. He played two more games in the Eastern Conference semifinals for a couple of minutes before calling it quits.
Now in retirement, Shaquille O’Neal has used all the wealth he gained during his prime in a business-savvy way and the result is out there for all to see as the Big Diesel keeps pilling on his half a billion worth.
