LeBron James’ Former Teammates Sounds off on Shaquille O’Neal’s Struggles on the Streets

Published 06/05/2022, 11:43 AM EDT

Shaquille O’Neal has always been huge in his physique and structure. At 7’1” Shaq was 325 pounds in weight when he first started playing in the NBA. But his weight never bothered him much. He rather used it to his advantage. His physique helped him pursue the dominant gameplay that he liked to play.

Shaq has often talked about how he used to live in a neighborhood where he had to struggle a bit. Despite being huge, he had to deal with bullies. He has often shared how his father helped him become tough. He has had his own fair share of struggles on the streets. Recently LeBron James’ teammate Iman Shumpert talked about how Shaq’s struggles were not only limited to physical fights. And it is not easy to live in such a neighborhood even if you are as big as Shaq.

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“You think nothing goes on in that time period? Basketball will raise you, boy. If you play basketball, you’re outside. If you play basketball, you walk around, if you walk around, you got a bag. And if you got a bag people are f****** with you.” Iman said about Shaq playing basketball since a young age and how it would have been easier like everybody thinks it is.

Shaquille O’Neal on His Journey to Becoming a Police Officer: “If You Give Me a Badge and I Go Out on the Street, the Officers Are Not Gonna Respect Me”

Then Vlad talked about how tall and huge Shaq was, even in his early teens. To which Iman replied, “And that’s even scarier. Because that means every day of your life you know mother******* is not gonna fight you, we gonna shoot your big a**. I’m just saying the mindset of it if told correctly, way more people [would] know that story.”

The conversation was about how Shaq has never talked about the incidents that actually took place in his life in his raps to keep it clean and safe. Whereas Iman agreed that while he also has to check such things, talking about all the things to express oneself is also important.

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Shaquille O’Neal as a rapper and DJ

Shaq is the only athlete who went platinum. He is also a DJ right now and tearing up different places with his concerts.

WATCH THIS STORY: 3 current NBA stars taller than Shaq.

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In the 1990s, Shaq came on the rapping scene, and surprisingly, he was a big thing. His fan following as a brilliant basketball player, saw him skyrocket on trending and billboards. He went platinum twice and gold once. Shaq is truly a superstar, on the court and off the court as well.

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Written by:

Chaitanya is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his engineering from SRM University. Having determined an interest in football and basketball, he was inclined towards having a job in the sports industry.

Edited by:

Arunaditya Aima

LeBron James’ Former Teammates Sounds off on Shaquille O’Neal’s Struggles on the Streets

Shaquille O’Neal as a rapper and DJ

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