Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon have always been compared to one another. They both played as star centers in the same era and went head to head on several occasions. The 1995 NBA Finals saw Olajuwon best Shaq by defeating him in a 4-0 sweep. Olajuwon was also named the Finals MVP. There is nothing but respect between the two legends. Shaquille O’Neal recently praised Olajuwon and his skillset in an interview. 

Shaq admitted that Olajuwon was one of the fiercest competitors and was always better than him. Olajuwon was one of the only players that O’Neal could not figure out. Shaq picked Olajuwon as his first pick in his 1990s All-Decade starting five.

Shaquille O’Neal was a young Orlando Magic player when he faced an in-prime Hakeem ‘The Dream’ Olajuwon. Olajuwon dominated Shaq in the center position. The Dream led Shaq in points as he averaged 32.8 points in the 1995 NBA Finals. In his prime, there was arguably no player that was as dominating as Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq won four rings and three Finals MVP trophies in his tenure with the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers. 

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Shaquille O’Neal had only great things to say about Olajuwon. O’Neal would not stay with Orlando for too long after the sweep as he took his talents to Hollywood, where he saw his prime. Shaquille O’Neal listed Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Irving, and Hakeem Olajuwon as the people that he looked up to in the NBA 75 list. Notably, he won two titles with the Houston Rockets in his career.

Shaquille O’Neal admits Hakeem was his toughest opponent

Shaquille O’Neal got better in every facet of the game with time. Together with Kobe Bryant, Shaq took the Los Angeles Lakers to a three-peat. However, by the time Shaq reached his prime, Olajuwon was on his way out of the league. The two could not face each other when they both were at their peak, so the question of who is better is quite speculative. O’Neal, however, believes that Olajuwon was miles ahead of him.

Shaq said, “He was the only guy that I couldn’t figure out. I couldn’t figure him out, and he was the only guy that I couldn’t intimidate; you know the Georgetown boys, we all know they’re gonna fake left and go right.”

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O’Neal looks back to the 1995 Finals

O’Neal talked about the 4-0 NBA Finals sweep in with the Orlando Magic on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

He said, “That was my fault we lost. Because as a leader, I didn’t lead. After we beat the Bulls, I let up. Thank you for the game, right? Straight. We didn’t play in Houston before. I think it was one on one or even series.”

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Shaq blames himself for not being at par with Hakeem’s greatness and feels he was short-handed.