Can you imagine Shaquille O’Neal admitting his first dunk was at the age of 17? The 4x NBA icon was already 6 foot 7 at the time, yet he decided not to dunk until that point because he was “scared”. But now, per official stats, he is in second place behind his arch nemesis Dwight Howard with 2,626 total slams. Recently, on TNT’s Tuesday broadcast, the crew would reminisce their last dunks. First was the Raptors legend who won the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk contest.

Adam Lefkoe, the host of the show, reminded Vince Carter about his final dunk against the Mavericks in February 2020. The 22-season veteran stated at the time that he “did not” know it would be his final slam. Nor did he savor that moment. Coming to Shaquille O’Neal, he was asked if he remembered his final jam. The Big Aristotle was confident it was during his final stint with the Celtics. Lefkoe explained it indeed was against the Sacramento Kings. The crew would point out one glaring difference in that dunk.

“Hey, that man had the straight leg with the dunk! He didn’t bend them legs, he wanted to stay close to the ground,” recalled Vince Carter. Shaquille O’Neal was notoriously known for folding his legs and had no remorse if opponents were caught between his legs. Although, for his final dunk, he was quite happy to stay close to the ground. “I sure did. That’s all right, though.” Lastly, it was the 3x WNBA champion, and you will be surprised why she remembers her final slam dunk.

“Yeah, cuz it was my second dunk ever. ‘I was like, I’m not doing this anymore!‘” In her rookie season with the Sparks, Candace Parker had her final dunk. She admitted to having poster opponents regularly during her college career, but once she turned pro, there was no interest. “It’s the landing when you get older.” Out of the 3 analysts, Parker is the youngest and was the last one to make her professional debut.

However, she was the first time to stop dunking. That’s right; her last jam was in 2008, followed by Shaquille O’Neal in 2011 and Vince Carter in 2020. In a previous episode of the show, Parker even questioned one such slam from the Lakers legend back in 1999.

Shaquille O’Neal and Candace Parker argue about dunking philosophy

The Big Aristotle suited up against the Knicks, and that day, on the receiving end was Chris Dudley. The crew watched the highlights of Shaq’s nasty dunk, which was followed by him hanging on the net with his legs around the former Knicks star. Candace Parker was perplexed by the visuals and asked the Lakers legend,  “But why did you do this? This man has a family.”

During that day and even previously, Shaquille O’Neal explained his anger toward the franchise. It was nothing personal against Dudley, but the team avoided doubling the 4x NBA champion on that day. Shaq thought this was disrespectful since the best players get the most attention from the opposition. So, when that did not pan out, Diesel would not only poster Dudley but wrap his legs around him. However, Parker was still not on board with the reasoning.

“That’s not his fault,” said Parker. It was one of the many dunks that Shaq viciously executed on his opponents. That’s why he is officially the number 2 dunker on the all-time list. But let’s not forget that the stat only became official 4 years after his debut.