Very rarely would an NBA star from the ’90s confirm they were drug-tested. Shaquille O’Neal has become a lot more candid 15 years removed from the league. From confirming he was accidentally exposed to substances before the 1996 Olympics to the toll of unrestricted painkiller use, O’Neal’s been more open to the sensitive sides of his career recently. He just revealed that the NBA had serious doubts about the possibility of one of his legendary moments.

One incident that made him worthy of the self-made M.D.E. (Most Dominant Ever) title was that ‘jump out of your seat’ grand display of power against the New Jersey Nets three decades ago. O’Neal disclosed that after he literally made the NBA redesign the rim structure, he was tested for drugs.

“Because so I’ve only been dunked on twice my whole career: Derrick Coleman and Michael Jordan,” O’Neal said on The Big Podcast. “So every time I played against Derrick Coleman I was very upset and very angry ’cause he dunked on me in Jersey in front of the family…”

This beef between the 1990 and 1992 first-round overall picks is well-documented. On March 4, 1993, the legendary forward embarrassed O’Neal with a real poster, and revenge came that same April in O’Neal‘s rookie season.

“I wanted to actually rip it down, so that day I actually told Uncle Jerome I was going to rip it down, and I did,” O’Neal said, recollecting what happened on April 23, 1993.

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However, the NBA had to ensure the superhuman act was not because of external factors.

“You know what’s crazy? They drug tested me twice after the game,” O’Neal told his co-host, Adam Lefkoe.

Lefkoe reassured O’Neal that he “did something that I don’t think anyone thought was humanly possible.” The sheer force of the dunk caused a professional-grade basketball structure to collapse. The game had to be stopped for about 30 minutes to replace the damaged stanchion.

But the NBA legend quipped that the test results showcased Frosted Flakes in his blood (his secret obsession), and he didn’t understand why the league felt the need to check if he was clean after such a dominant moment.

How Shaquille O’Neal’s dunks terrorized the NBA

Shaquille O’Neal was breaking backboards before he was Big Aristotle. He even did it during a casual scrimmage on NBA Inside Stuff before the draft. In February 1993, during a Phoenix Suns game led by frenemy Charles Barkley, he caused the basket’s hydraulic support to fold on itself. Then the Nets game happened.

That was the inspiration behind Reebok creating the Dunkman. His then-agent, Leonard Armato, told EssentiallySports that the NBA was just as terrified of the Dunkman logo as the real deal. They were afraid that the ‘Shaq Attaq’ would inspire players to damage NBA property. Not that it would deter O’Neal or Reebok.

So the NBA took measures. They changed the league-wide standards for the posts to make them ‘Shaq-proof.’ The league also made damaging the basket a technical foul.

However, years later, in 2025, O’Neal claimed he can’t dunk anymore without risking bodily harm, yet there were no performance enhancers behind that brute strength back in the ’90s.

This revelation adds another layer to his unique history with the league’s drug-testing policy. In 2025, O’Neal famously joked on Inside the NBA about how a poppy seed muffin led to a positive drug test at the 1996 Olympics. But this story will serve as the best reminder that he was actually capable of such destruction.