Kevin Love is one of the NBA’s biggest success stories. Love reached the NBA through many challenges and went on to win an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a sit-down interview with Graham Bensinger, Love revealed a special interaction with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal that impacted his whole life.

Love’s father was a former NBA player himself. Stan Love would interact with many NBA players and get Kevin to meet them when he got the chance.

Love revealed his interaction with Shaq came about because of his father. He said, “It was crazy because it was a big moment in my life. We got access to downstairs because my dad had a media pass. Prior to that, my dad ran into Shaq in the elevator and said, ‘Hey listen, my son is a huge fan of yours, maybe your biggest. You mind saying hi to hi if you see him in the locker room or in the tunnel’?” 

Love then spoke about going down the tunnel to go meet Shaquille O’Neal during his time with the Orlando Magic.

Kevin Love talks about Shaquille O’Neal interaction

Love said, “So fast forward, we go underneath the tunnel, we go right outside the Orlando locker room, and here comes Shaq. Everybody is grabbing him. And my dad who is 6’9 taps him on the shoulder. And he runs by, and it is my brother and I, we have our jerseys on.”

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At first, O’Neal apparently walked away without saying hello, and the disappointment set in for Love and his brother. Love said, “Then my dad says ‘well, at least you got to see Shaq’ and we thought that was pretty cool. It was a very small, minor let down. But then he stops. I think it registered in his brain that ‘hey this was the guy that I spoke to earlier today’. He must’ve been coming back from shoot around.”

But then Shaq turned around and met Love and his brother. The nature of the interaction shaped how Love treats fans to this day. Love said, “He turns around and like, I feel like everybody has their Shaq moment, but for me how he treated my brother, how he treated myself, how he treated my father, he didn’t have to that. I felt like that, leading to today, whether it be on, or especially off the floor, how I treat kids. That was a big moment, and I’ll never forget Shaq for that. Even if he gives me a tough time on TNT for shooting threes.”

Love’s interaction with O’Neal allowed him to understand how players should treat fans, and that is something he carries with himself to this day.