Shaquille O’Neal is considered an NBA legend for his contributions on the NBA court. The Diesel won 4 NBA Championships in his career along with several amazing accolades. As a result, O’Neal is an NBA Hall of Famer.
While Shaq enjoyed a lot of success in his career, that wasn’t always the case for him. In fact, it took Shaq until his 9th season in the NBA to win his first-ever ring. By that time, fans were already aware of his dominance and individual brilliance, but they still questioned his overall ability to lead a team to win an NBA title.
Evidently, these accusations made the big man angry. But how angry you ask? Well, he revealed that in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on ‘The Jimmy Kimmel Live’ show. Shaq revealed:
“Remember when I first got to LA in ’96, we would always lose in the playoffs. We would always get swept. So this was the time where, you know, ‘Shaq, he’s a great player but is he really a great player? He’s not winning championships.’ I never thought we would win. Every year we got better — Kobe and myself — but then when it came to the playoffs we would lose. And one last time before we hit three in a row, I just went in the office and I just ripped five (urinals) off the wall.”
Shaq further revealed, “Jerry West came in, and he told me a story I didn’t know. He said, ‘Son, calm down. I went to the Finals nine times before I won it with the Lakers,’ so I didn’t feel as bad. So I’m ripping a urinal off, and I was like, ‘Hold on, you went to the Finals nine times and lost?’ He said, ‘Calm down! You’ll get it! You’ll get it!’”
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As West predicted, Shaq won the championship the following year and then proceeded to complete a three-peat with the Lakers.
Later on, he also won a ring with the Miami Heat with Dwyane Wade alongside him. Regardless, this story about O’Neal’s anger certainly proves that he has come a long way now and is much more composed right now, albeit as an NBA analyst.
