Shaquille O’Neal retired from professional basketball back in 2011 and like many so many other players, struggled once he walked away from the game. During an interview with People magazine, O’Neal admitted he was lost after retirement and revealed that becoming a DJ was what saved him.
“I was lost because I had planned to retire two years after I retired. So I wasn’t really prepared,” O’Neal said. “I’ve been playing since I was 14 years old and always had that step into the arena feeling of the game. I always had that hour and a half or so. And when I stopped playing, I didn’t have that.”
Basketball had been such a big part of O’Neal’s life for over two decades and he now had to find something that filled the void. Fortunately, he found it after attending a concert.
“I went to this concert and I got the same feeling again,” O’Neal stated. “I was like, ‘You know what? I used to do this. Lemme see if I can pick it up again.’ So yeah, it’s fun, but it only lasts an hour and a half.”
O’Neal started DJing back in the 1980s when he was at LSU. He stopped being one at some point during his Hall of Fame career but picked it up again post-retirement.
O’Neal claims DJing now gives him the same adrenaline boost that a championship game once did. The 52-year-old tours the world as “DJ Diesel” and hopes to continue DJing for another 10 to 20 years. I think he can certainly continue for another 10.
As for O’Neal’s other big job as a basketball analyst, it remains to be seen what he will do in 2025. TNT failed to renew its NBA rights, which means Inside the NBA will come to an end after the 2024-25 season.
While Charles Barkley has announced that he will stay at TNT even if the network no longer has the NBA, I think there’s a good chance O’Neal will head out. He will have no shortage of options to choose from either.
Getting back to O’Neal’s retirement from basketball, it certainly doesn’t appear as if he had planned for 2011 to be the end. He had signed a two-year deal with the Boston Celtics in 2010, but his body kept breaking down in that 2010-11 campaign.
O’Neal only played in 37 games that season, the fewest he had played in any season of his career. While he remained effective on the court, his body was letting him know that it was time to leave, even if he didn’t want to.
So, O’Neal called it quits after 19 seasons and finished his career with averages of 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game. He won four titles, three Finals MVPs, an MVP, and two scoring titles along the way.
It speaks to O’Neal’s greatness, though, that despite his having that impressive resume, you feel he underachieved. Had he taken better care of his body, he might have gone on to win so much more. I think there is a chance O’Neal could have even been part of the GOAT debate if he had a greater work ethic.
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