Shaquille O’Neal played in the NBA for 19 seasons. During that time, Big Diesel established himself as one of the most dominating players in league history. Over the 19 seasons, Shaq tallied a total of 28,596 points, putting himself in the 8th spot all-time.
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O’Neal was unstoppable in the post, and opponent coaches often had a tough time slowing him down. Shaq played with a lot of anger and translated the same into his game on the court. Shaq’s anger didn’t always turn off once he was off the court.
We’ve heard incidents of how he broke urinals after a playoff loss, was investigated for tackling a co-worker, and much more. However, there has always been one thing that calmed Shaq down. In a recent interview with PEOPLE magazine, O’Neal shared how his children played that role in his life.
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Shaquille O’Neal shared the impact Shareef and his other children had on him
Shaquille O’Neal is 7ft 1″ tall and weighs 324lbs. These numbers in themselves tell you how big the man is. However, whatever you imagine, in person, Shaq feels much bigger than that. Combining his physique with his anger, Shaq felt like that was his superpower.
“After a bad game, especially if it was my fault, missed my free throws, I’d go crazy, I’d tear the house up. I was the Hulk.”
However, that all changed once Shaq ‘The Hulk’ became Shaquille O’Neal ‘The Dad’. He had his first child, Taahirah O’Neal, in 1996. Shaq married Shaunie Henderson in 2002 and had four kids, Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir, and Me’arah, with her. He also has a son from Shaunie’s previous relationship, Myles. The kids changed Shaq’s outlook on things. Talking about the same, he said,
“As soon as I saw my children’s faces, I could transform. You come home, and they don’t care about any of that. Forty points? It’s ‘Hey, Daddy!’ Two points? ‘Hey, Daddy!’ “
Shaq, who once used to come home like the Hulk, changed into a gentle giant as soon as he saw his kids.
Shaq once broke 5 urinals after a playoff loss
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Shaq reveled that the rumors about him pulling 5 urinals off the wall were true. Talking about the same, the big man said,
“Remember when I first got to LA in ’96, we would always lose in the playoffs. We would always get swept. So this was the time where, you know, ‘Shaq, he’s a great player but is he really a great player? He’s not winning championships.’ I never thought we would win. Every year we got better — Kobe and myself — but then when it came to the playoffs we would lose. And one last time before we hit three in a row, I just went in the office and I just ripped five (urinals) off the wall.”
The Big Diesel did not like to lose, and this just shows how much of a toll losing took on O’Neal.
