“Shaquille O’Neal was damn near impossible to guard back in the 1999-2000 season”: When the Lakers legend had a near-perfect season 22 years back

Shaquille O’Neal had one of the greatest individual seasons in all of NBA history during his 4^th season with the Lakers back in the 1999-2000 campaign.

When one talks about the most dominant figure in basketball history, Shaquille O’Neal is the one name that is constantly brought up in that conversation. Standing at 7-foot-1 and weighing a whopping 325 pounds, Shaq was a nightmare for any player who had the duty to guard him. And because of his inhuman size of his, The Diesel was able to command the paint on both sides of the court, night in and night out for nearly two long decades.

Shaq was very well aware of the huge size advantage he had over his opponents and used it relentlessly to bully several superstars in the league. And because of this, O’Neal managed to rack up one of the best-decorated resumes ever seen in league history.

At the conclusion of his illustrious 19-year career, Shaq had 15 All-Star appearances, 14 All-NBA selections, 2 Scoring titles, 4 NBA Championships, 3 Finals MVPs, 1 MVP, 28,596 points scored, numerous posterizers, and several shattered backboards.

Also Read: Candace Parker on how she and Dwyane Wade deal with The Diesel on NBAonTNT

However, out of all his incredible campaigns, the 1999-2000 season was unarguably the greatest one.

Shaquille O’Neal was almost unstoppable during the 1999-2000 season

During the 1999-2000 season, it was pretty evident that the Los Angeles Lakers had the best player in the world, Shaquille O’Neal, on their team.

The then-27-year-old played a total of 79 games in the regular season and went on to record a staggering 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3 blocks per game while leading his team to the best record (67-15) in the entire association. The Big Diesel also led the entire league in both offensive (11.7) and defensive (7.0) winshares, as well as field-goal percentage (57.4%) that year.

Shaquille O’Neal in the 2000 Finals:

43 PTS – 19 REB – 3 BLK – 68% FG
40 PTS – 24 REB – 3 BLK – 61% FG
33 PTS – 13 REB – 2 BLK – 63% FG
36 PTS – 21 REB – 2 BLK – 52% FG
35 PTS – 11 REB – 2 BLK – 63% FG
41 PTS – 12 REB – 4 BLK – 59% FG

Most dominant player ever. pic.twitter.com/RxNqpDqgkk

— Hilltop Hoops (@HilltopNBA) July 14, 2021

For his exceptional performance in the regular season, Shaq won the MVP award, the All-Star Game award, the Scoring title, and was selected in the All-NBA first team as well as the All-Defensive 2^nd team.

He elevated his game furthermore in the playoffs recording 30.7/15.4/3.1 on his way to win his first-ever title and eventually the Finals MVP as well.

Hear me out tho Shaq was arguably the most dominant Center of all time 👀 pic.twitter.com/zFir7nGQ2v

— 2XxX⚡ (@2xgocrazy2) April 27, 2022

Also Read: Shaquille O’Neal agrees with 6MOY as he helps Heat go two up against the Sixers

There have been several great individual seasons in league history. However, only a few campaigns come close to Shaq’s historic season 22 years back.