Baron Davis was one of the most ferocious dunkers of his time and loved nothing more than putting defenders on posters. During an appearance on the Out The Mud Podcast, Davis revealed he once tried to dunk on Shaquille O’Neal and was given quite a stern warning by the big man afterward.
“I tried to dunk on Shaq, (ball) bounced off the back rim,” Davis said. “I had him… He let me slide. It was almost like ‘Is he gonna jump? I’mma jump.’ Boom, hit the back rim… He came back, he said, ‘Hey, ever do that again, I’mma break your f***ing legs.’ I was like, ‘You ain’t got to trip on me coming back big fella.'”
Davis certainly wasn’t going to try to dunk on O’Neal after getting that warning. The big man is over seven feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds and wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with, especially if you’re a point guard like Davis.
As for that failed dunk, Davis could have joined a select group of individuals had he managed to slam it in. O’Neal once claimed that only three players dunked on him in his entire career: Derrick Coleman, Michael Jordan, and Tim Perry.
The Hall of Famer did change his tune on this topic later, however. During an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, O’Neal claimed he had never been dunked on. Considering he had himself admitted he had been dunked on in the past, I’d say you should take things he says with a grain of salt.
While Davis never managed to put O’Neal on a poster, there were plenty of other notable names he did. Andrei Kirilenko was his most famous victim and you can check out that and some other epic dunks below.
Alonzo Mourning Believes Shaquille O’Neal Was Afraid To Get Dunked On
O’Neal’s former teammate Alonzo Mourning appeared on The Big Podcast with Shaq in November. During the episode, co-host Adam Lefkoe asked Mourning if O’Neal was afraid of getting dunked on and he believed that was the case.
“Yeah, he used to foul, just to keep him from being knocked on,” Mourning said. “… Yes you took the foul, man. He was like, ‘Ain’t nobody ever dunked on me except for some person.'”
Coleman was the one Mourning was referring to there. O’Neal denied that he was afraid of being dunked on, but his former teammate was having none of it.
Mourning stated that he didn’t care about being dunked on and would always try to meet players at the rim. Sure, it led to him being put on a poster, but he blocked a lot a lot of shots as a result too.
Mourning’s willingness to do it led to him winning DPOY and block titles twice, in 1999 and 2000. O’Neal, meanwhile, never won either of those two awards in his career.
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