Shaquille O’Neal had a long and eventful career in the NBA. During his time in the league, O’Neal was a dominant force and from the start of his journey, many were sure of his success. That is what happened when he retired, he had 4 NBA Championships to his name, along with a lot of personal accolades and records.
While Shaq was a sensational player, even the best players in the NBA need help from other players to succeed. Obviously, that was also the case for Shaq and he was fortunate enough to share the court with many amazing players throughout his career.
In his early days, he shared the court with Penny Hardaway and even went to the NBA Finals, albeit losing it. After his time in Orlando, he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency and his career truly started to take off. He won three consecutive NBA Championships while donning the purple and gold jersey.
It is a well-known fact that O’Neal formed one of the most iconic duos of all time with Kobe Bryant. Kobe and Shaq dominated the league for a few years while winning games left and right. Later in his career, Shaq also shared the court with the likes of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, etc.
So one might wonder if Shaq was ever asked to pick his favorite teammate to play in the NBA might come from the above-mentioned names, right? Well, that is not what happened. On a recent episode of “Inside The NBA,” Shaq shared that Rick Fox was actually his favorite teammate to play with.
“My favorite guy to play with was Rick Fox. Certain games, ‘Hey man, I need you to be in the corner, hit that shot.’ Other games you not getting a shot but I need to stop Stojakovic, I need you to stay in front of Penny Hardaway and these guys, and he was able to adjust.”
(starts at 3:58)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1sTSsuDyDA
Fox was part of the Lakers roster when the team completed a three-peat. He might not have been the player who stood out on the box score, but as Shaq revealed, Fox understood his role perfectly.
He adjusted himself according to the situation, which is arguably the most important skill for a role player to succeed in the NBA. Well, at the end of the day, it might still come as a shock to many NBA fans that Shaq picked Rick Fox as his favorite teammate, but he did give a good explanation for it as well.
