Shaq grew to become so accustomed to dominating on the court docket that he felt misplaced as soon as his talents lastly began to fade.
The massive fella performed nicely past his prime, and in his last season in 2010-11, he averaged simply 9.2 factors per recreation for the Boston Celtics.
In a new episode of JJ Redick’s podcast, ‘The Old Man and the Three’, O’Neal opened up in regards to the hardest a part of his prime years coming to an finish.
“Not being ‘him’,” he mentioned. “‘Him’ is 28/10. F****n’ averaged 9 factors in Boston. I felt like I used to be robbing the individuals. I felt so unhealthy that after they known as me again and mentioned, ‘Hey man, we owe you $1.5 [million].’ I mentioned f*****g preserve it. Keep it. I’m not arising there to common six factors… I used to be dominant for therefore lengthy, I by no means even thought of, ‘Hey one day, it’s going to be gone.’
” … It first hit me once I didn’t make the All Star workforce. I had that like ‘oh I don’t need to play,’ however I’m like bro, I dominated the All Star recreation for 12-13 years in a row. Now I don’t even get no f*****g votes. So that half form of form of messed me up.”
Shaq added that his previous achievements had been of little consolation for him on the time, as a result of in his phrases, he was “programmed to do more.”
At the peak of his powers, Shaq was unbelievably dominant.
In his best-ever season, he put up 29.7 factors and 13.6 rebounds per recreation, profitable league MVP, Finals MVP and the championship.
It was the primary of three consecutive titles that he received alongside Kobe Bryant on the Lakers.
READ MORE: LeBron James Responds to Shaq Saying Players Don’t Fear Him
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