When it comes to sheer dominance on the court, few can match up to Shaquille O’Neal when he was at the peak of his powers.
Richard Jefferson got to witness that first-hand when he faced Shaq in the 2002 NBA Finals, and he explained why O’Neal is the most dominant player ever during an appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast.
“They (Shaq’s Lakers) changed how you had to construct your roster,” Jefferson said. “You had to have two or three bigs just for f***ing fouls. Not like good bigs, we just need bigs there, we need big bodies.”
Hack-a-Shaq was really the only defense that teams had against him a lot of times. Jefferson also brought up Wilt Chamberlain here, who is often the other name mentioned in these discussions about the most dominant player. He stated though, that if you haven’t seen Wilt play in person, as is the case for most people today, then you have to go with Shaq as the most dominant one.
“He has been the most dominant player in the history of the game of basketball, period. Not LeBron (James), not Steph (Curry), not Magic (Johnson), MJ (Michael Jordan). Shaq physically was the most dominant player we have ever seen and maybe will ever see because of his sheer size, athleticism, skill, footwork, hands, everything. There was no guarding him… There’s no other player that I can think of in recent history that has that type of strength and power.”
(starts at 2:20 mark):
O’Neal, at his absolute peak, led the Los Angeles Lakers to that historic three-peat from 2000 to 2002. He put up some outrageous numbers in those three NBA Finals, averaging 36.3 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 3.8 APG, and 2.8 BPG against Jefferson’s Nets. The Lakers swept the Nets thanks to O’Neal’s dominance, and it is a pity he didn’t take care of his body, or else who knows for how much longer he’d have dominated.
Shaquille O’Neal Claimed He And Wilt Chamberlain Are The Only Players To Dominate The NBA
Shaq has spoken on this subject quite often, and he once claimed that he and Wilt are the only players to truly dominate the NBA. It is hard to argue against that either, as if you just talk about dominance, no one really comes close to them.
O’Neal was always obsessed with being the most dominant player ever and while the longevity wasn’t there, no one could deal with him when he was at his best. His former head coach Del Harris said that if Shaq had Kobe Bryant’s mentality, then he could have been the GOAT. It wasn’t to be, though, so Shaq has to settle with being perhaps the most dominant, which isn’t a bad consolation prize.
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