Everyone remembers Shaquille O’Neal as arguably the most dominant player in the history of the game. That’s what Shaq wanted to be, and he more or less managed to achieve it as well. For 3 straight years, no one could touch O’Neal and the Lakers, as he won a three-peat alongside Kobe Bryant. But getting there took Shaq a long time, it’s not like he found success as soon as he came into the league.
O’Neal’s first few seasons in the league were spent with the Orlando Magic, and even though they did manage to make it to an NBA Finals, the team never managed to win a championship. Eventually, Shaq left for Los Angeles as a free agent and was paired up with the young and promising Kobe. But even with a top team and a great co-star, success took some time to arrive.
During this time, Shaq was one of the biggest stars in the NBA, an absolute beast and a phenomenon. So when his first 7 seasons didn’t bring a title, O’Neal faced his fair share of criticism and ridicule. Shaq has always been an emotional person, so this situation took its toll on him, and he was helped through it by some good advice from the best to ever do it.
Shaquille O’Neal Revealed What Michael Jordan Taught Him About Failure And Success
Speaking in an interview with Patrick bet David, Shaq opened up on his career in LA. He spoke about his relationship with Kobe and took the time to explain Michael Jordan and Jerry West’s influence on him.
“So we used to get swept all the time and most of the blowback came on me, which I was fine with it, but just you know, at some point I got tired of hearing it because Michael Jordan told me after they swept us, ‘before you succeed, you must first learn to fail.’ And I just got tired of failing.
“So one time we got swept by the Spurs and I went in the bathroom and I ripped up all the toilets, all the urinals. There was shit flying everywhere… and Jerry West came in there and he grabbed me and he was strong as hell too and he put me up against the wall and said ‘calm down’. I’m like ‘I’m tired of losing.'”
This sounds exactly like something O’Neal would struggle with, his desire to win was second to none. The fact that he was able to learn from MJ is huge, though Jordan had his string of failures before he won. His words would prove to be prophetic also, Shaq did end up succeeding, and in a way, that very few others have managed in NBA history.
