It was the 2006 NBA Finals and the NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was already on the downside of his career. The former Miami Heat star was no longer the dominant force of the 1990s. This led him to have a conversation with Dwyane Wade, who was about to play in the season’s finals. “F*ck you gonna do,” said Shaq, recalling the incident.

Shedding light on the heated argument between the two, in a recent interview on The Draymond Green Show, Shaquille O’Neal said, “D-Wade and I had our first argument in the finals. We got down 2-0, I’m declining. I am going through a divorce. I am not Shaq. I had my first game f**king terrible, awful. So I pulled D-Wade in the room: ‘The f**k you going to do, man? You want to be a man? What the f**k you going to do?'” said Shaq.

At this time, Shaq was going through a lot, and it was reflected in his game as he only had 16 points in Game 3 and 18 points in Game 5 in Miami. Consequently, Shaq realized it was the right time to hand over the keys to the potential superstar on the team. What happened next was something unexpected, but remarkable.

From asking for help to winning the championship feat. Shaq

The Mavs, on the other hand, had their offense geared toward stopping the ‘Big Aristotle’. This worked well for Wade. Highly motivated by Shaq’s words, he produced one of the greatest performances in NBA playoff history. He not only averaged 34.7 points, 3.8 assists, and 7.8 rebounds but also led his team to four straight victories.

Moving on, he and the Miami Heat’s remaining roster clinched their first championship in the franchise’s history. Meanwhile, Wade was also awarded the MVP title that year. All this began with a heated argument where Shaq admitted and requested Wade’s help to win his fourth championship.

However, this wasn’t an easy feat for Shaq. He revealed in the same interview, “I got four people on me. I just took it well. In the future, I’m gonna talk to my good friend Draymond. He gonna tell me they’re gonna put a m*****f**ker in front of me, behind me. That’s what they’re doing to me right now.”

As Shakespeare said, “All’s well that ends well,” and everything ended on a good note with the whole team enjoying their recent championship win. But the question remains: Is Shaq a reason behind Wade’s early success? The answer is yes, he is one reason.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.