Shaquille O’Neal and Stephen Curry have been two of the most dominant forces in the NBA over the last 3 decades, but they did it in completely different styles. The end product wasn’t all that different, however, as they both won 2 scoring titles and 4 NBA championships.
It is almost as if the two played in different eras when you think about their games, but they were playing in the league at the same time for a couple of years. Curry was drafted by the Warriors in 2009 and Shaq would hang around till 2011, but here’s a fun fact: they only played each other once in those 2 seasons. That meeting came in January 2010 when the Cavaliers took on the Warriors and while LeBron James stole all the headlines that day by scoring 37 points, Curry and Shaq had their moments. A fan on Reddit, u/Greedy_Craft, shared some rare footage of Curry hitting a tough jumper over Shaq and not long after, the big man returned the favor as he dunked it in with Curry on his back.
Shaq probably didn’t think much of the skinny rookie from Davidson at the time, but as time has gone by, he has become one of Curry’s biggest admirers. Shaq proclaimed that Curry is a top 10 player of all time even before he won his 4th championship and said he loves Steph’s game.
It’s a pity these two never crossed paths on a court apart from this one occasion, as Shaq was injured the 3 other times their teams faced off. O’Neal ended up coming out on top in this one, as the Cavs won 117-114 and he finished with 13 points in under 20 minutes. Curry, meanwhile, had 21 including 10 in the fourth quarter but LeBron scored 15 to hold off the Warriors and seal the win.
