Every time a rookie enters the league, they’re victims of bullying, getting taunted and needled as a ritual. Every player has a story about these rituals and how hard his teammates went on them. However, there is one dude that didn’t want any of that and got away with it with a simple message.
On Saturday night edition of Inside the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley were once again taking shots at each other when the discussion led to rookie stories. Barkley revealed his crazy story, recalling he had to give Andrew Toney’s warm milk at 11 o’clock in the night and then he had to get up early so he could get Julius Erving’s newspaper every single day.
When Shaq’s turn arrived, he told a story that only he could tell.
“You know what’s crazy? I never got hazed,” he said before Chuck’s story. Then, he elaborated on his hilarious argument.
“First day I got there, Scottie Skiles was like, ‘get my bag, rook,’” O’Neal said. “I was like, ‘I don’t do that, I’m the franchise player.’ And I never got hazed.”
“Bro, this my team, bro.”
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Moreover, Shaq revealed that he hazed other players, but he only realized he shouldn’t have messed with two of them, Kobe Bryant and Goran Dragic.
“There’s only 2 players to ever withstand my hazing and I had to release what I was doing to them because of their toughness, Kobe Bryant and Goran Dragic.”
This is proof that Shaq was dominant both on and off the court. He wasn’t having any of that and nobody bothered him. He led the Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals before taking his talents to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he teamed up with Kobe Bryant. Shaq would go to win four championships in his career, becoming one of the biggest forces this league has seen.
