NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant and successful players ever. However, many argue he could have become the undisputed GOAT of the game had he taken better care of himself and his craft, including his former teammate the late great Kobe Bryant. O’Neal hit the ground running for the Orlando Magic as a rookie. Even though many expected him to be great, very few predicted that he would lead the team to the NBA Finals, leave alone beating NBA legend Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls on their way.

Even though the Magic lost the title to the seasoned Houston Rockets, it was still a major achievement for Shaq and his young side. However, many were still not impressed by O’Neal’s ‘attitude’ to the game of basketball.

Doubts about the abilities of Shaquille O’Neal

Shaquille O’Neal is a multi-talented individual. He is still a popular DJ who performs all around the world. The four-time NBA champion is also a marketing genius who knew how to market himself from the very beginning. His hilarious antics, larger-than-life personality, rap music, movies, etc were a huge hit among fans from the jump.

He was and still is one of the most loved NBA stars ever. The four-time NBA champion’s endearing personality also got him some major endorsement deals that fetched him millions. Many teams wanted him for his marketability as well.

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However, it also brought along some criticism. Many thought that O’Neal was not motivated to be the best basketball player he can be. They thought that he focuses a lot on other things external to his craft.

All-Time great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has criticized Shaq multiple times. Former teammate and fellow Laker NBA legend Kobe Bryant has publicly slammed Shaq for his work ethic. Legendary head coach Phil Jackson sided with O’Neal during the latter’s beef with Bryant. However, even Jackson wanted the superstar center to suspend his hip-hop career and concentrate on basketball.

O’Neal’s beef with Penny Hardaway and leaving the Magic

Shaquille O’Neal has had some major beefs over the course of his career. After a flying start with the Orlando Magic, many thought he would stay with the team and gun for glory. However, things took a shocking turn after a while. Shaq had a great on-court partnership with NBA legend Penny Hardaway. Hardaway was a pass-first point guard which helped O’Neal score in bunches and he liked it.

In fact, when the young Magic star was not happy with Orlando’s extension offer, Shaq requested the franchise to offer him what he wants. However, The Big Diesel was not happy when Hardaway did not return the favor during his contract negotiation. This formed a rift between the center and the point guard.

The contract negotiation with management did not end well and Shaq subsequently signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a massive seven-year contract worth more than $120 million. It was the biggest and most unprecedented NBA contract at the time. Many contemporary players and analysts argued that it was a huge risk to offer the massive deal to O’Neal because of his fidgety mindset.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles was the perfect landing spot for Shaq and his entertainment aspirations, and he grabbed it with both hands. Shaq was performing well with the Lakers but was unable to lead the team to playoff success for years. This cast major doubts on his leadership skills and question rose about his massive contract.

His beef with Kobe Bryant and leaving the Lakers

Many were growing impatient with Shaquille O’Neal, including Kobe Bryant. The young superstar made his feelings known publicly and there was a major beef between the two. The two superstars went hard at each other during practice sessions and it sometimes led to physical altercations where teammates and staff had to separate them. The two did not care about throwing shade at each other during press conferences as well. Things were getting uglier.

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However, the presence of Phil Jackson calmed things a bit. Before agreeing to join the Lakers, Jackson asked Shaq to set aside his music and film aspirations and focus on basketball. The 15-time NBA All-Star obliged and the Lakers went on to win three straight titles. O’Neal was the dominant force in the league, winning the 2000 NBA MVP award and three-straight Finals MVP awards. However, the beef with Bryant was not over.

During a party, O’Neal took the stage to freestyle and dissed Kobe for snitching him out to his then-wife Shaunie. His relationship with Bryant was at an all-time low. Head coach Jackson wanted the Lakers to stick with Shaq and let go of Bryant. Meanwhile, O’Neal demanded a huge contract from the Lakers. Despite the head coach’s stance, the Lakers decided to stick with the much younger Kobe. L.A’s front-office traded Shaq to the Miami Heat in 2006.

O’Neal’s injury issues and criticism

During the course of his career, Shaquille O’Neal suffered from a lot of nagging injuries. Shaq has had knee surgeries, toe injuries, a broken hand, etc. He has always maintained that he had played through pain and injury a lot. However, the Big Diesel has missed around 200 games in his career because of injury issues and illness.

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Many criticized him for this as well, arguing that he did not take care of his body well enough, with his poor diet and late-night partying. His injury layoffs also caused him to gain weight, which was met with criticism as well. Eventually, Shaq retired from the league after a career-ending Achilles injury while playing for the Boston Celtics in 2011. His next step was TV.

O’Neal’s beef with NBA stars

With his media-savvy personality, Shaquille O’Neal was destined to be on TV. After his retirement, multiple channels came calling and Shaq signed with TNT to be a basketball analyst. His time as an analyst has been mostly filled with hilarious antics with colleagues Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, among others. However, there were some patches of issues with NBA stars as well.

O’Neal has always been a major critic of former NBA star Dwight Howard who was often compared to him because of some similarities between them. Both were strong centers who played for the Magic and led their team to the Finals. However, O’Neal was not impressed with the comparison. Furthermore, Shaq was annoyed when Howard used his Superman nickname. The beef still continues with O’Neal recently commenting about Howard playing in Taiwan. The 2020 NBA champion hit back this time asking Shaq to not hate.

Additional, the Hall of Famer had a major beef with JaVale McGee, who was a regular feature in his bloopers show Shaqtin’ a Fool. McGee was quite possibly the most featured player on the show. The three-time NBA champion finally had enough and retaliated on social media. Subsequently, their mothers had to intervene to stop the issue from getting uglier.

The four-time NBA champion did not stop there though. When Rudy Gobert signed a massive $200 million extension with the Utah Jazz, Shaq was not impressed and let his feelings known. The issue dragged on for a while and the Big Aristotle still tends to take subtle digs at Gobert at times. Recently, Shaq had some harsh words for Kyrie Irving amidst his anti-semitic controversy. However, fans were not happy with O’Neal’s comments and ripped him to shreds on social media.

Even though O’Neal has had one of the best NBA careers ever on and off the court, there will always be doubts about whether he reached his potential. However, it is safe to say he has lived his life to the fullest in the way he wanted so far.

Do you think Shaquille O’Neal could have been the Greatest ever? Let us know in the comments.