Shaquille O’Neal is arguably the most dominant player in the history of the NBA, when he came into the league in the 90s, Shaq was an unstoppable force of nature. Very few players have come close to giving Shaq trouble, especially on the defensive end, so much so that a lot of conversations about who would score on Shaq end up being hypothetical. However, every NBA star has a player that guarded them well and gave them trouble on the other end, and Shaq’s pick is not what one would expect.
O’Neal played against some of the premier big men the game has ever seen. Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, all of these guys were in their prime when O’Neal got to the league, but none of them was his pick for which player gave him the most headaches. On NBA TV’s Open Court though, Shaq revealed which player he found hardest to guard was Vancouver Grizzlies center Bryant ‘Big Country’ Reeves.
“Big Country. Because guards that don’t play defense, they always tell bigs to show. So I would show, and Big Country be 15 feet away, and he had the ugliest Duckworth one-hand jumper, he’d shoot it and it would always go in. And so at halftime, I’m looking at the stats, Shaq 15, Big Country 26.”
Bryant Reeves entered the NBA in 1995 as the 6th overall pick, joining the Vancouver Grizzlies, and enjoyed a stellar first few seasons, improving year on year. Big Country suffered from injuries later in his career though and had to retire in 2001 after just 6 seasons in the NBA.
It may not have been the most stellar career, but to have been the player that troubled Shaq the most on defense is quite a feather in anybody’s cap. Since retirement, Reeves has lived on a ranch with his family, which is a quiet life for someone that once got on the court and dominated one of the biggest superstars to ever play the game.
