Shaquille O’Neal was just 20 years old when he entered the NBA, but he was a force to be reckoned with from the get-go. He started the All-Star game as a rookie and, by his third season, won a scoring title as well.
It didn’t matter who you put in front of Shaq, he was going to dominate, even if it was the giant Gheorghe Muresan, the tallest player in NBA history at 7’7”. In one head-to-head matchup between them in March 1996, O’Neal erupted for a season-high 49 points to go with 17 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and 3 blocks.
He also shut down Muresan, who had just 8 points, 8 rebounds, a steal, and a block. Keep in mind, 1995-96 was the best season of Muresan’s career, as he won Most Improved Player with averages of 14.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.7 SPG, and 2.3 BPG.
There wasn’t much he could do here, though, as Shaq led the Orlando Magic to a 111-108 win over Muresan’s Washington Bullets.
Shaquille O’Neal Reacted To Claims That Joel Embiid Would Lock Up And Contain Him
O’Neal is quite active on social media, and he stumbled upon someone claiming that Joel Embiid would have locked him up in his prime. Shaq reacted to it by insinuating he would destroy Embiid, and it is hard to argue against that.
There was absolutely no answer for Shaq at his absolute best. He led the Los Angeles Lakers to a historic three-peat from 2000 to 2002 and was simply unstoppable those three years.
In the first of those Finals against the Indiana Pacers, Shaq averaged a ridiculous 38.0 PPG. He then faced one of the greatest defensive bigs ever in Dikembe Mutombo in the 2001 Finals and averaged 33.0 PPG in the series.
The following year, he averaged 36.3 PPG in the Finals against the New Jersey Nets. Richard Jefferson was on that Nets team, and he called Shaq the most dominant player ever, adding that there was no way to guard him.
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