One cannot talk about 90s basketball and miss out on Shaquille O’Neal. The number 1 pick from LSU might have been ready for the NBA when he was in high school but couldn’t enter until 1992
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The 7’1, 290 lbs phenom came into a league that was just overtaken by a 6ft 6’ guard who went by the name Michael Jordan. After years of dominance by the Bigs and then Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the league was again ready for the clash between big men.
Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson were already ready to win some championships before O’Neal’s arrival. When Shaq was emerging The Dream won two, The Admiral won one, and then The Big Aristotle emerged by the end of the 90s.
When Shaquille O’Neal shut down Grant Hill in the middle of a conversation
Former Pacers star Grant Hill once made the mistake of saying Shaq was emerging in the 90s, years after both of them had retired from the game. O’Neal did not wait for a second to interrupt him and hilariously claimed, “emerging? I was already emerged!”
Watch the hilarious exchange where The Diesel would not just troll Grant for his comments but also give Hakeem his flowers.
Shaq being Shaq. After all these years, more than a decade into his media career, the TNT analyst has maintained his quick wits and never fails to make us laugh.
However, Shaq wasn’t joking when he said he has emerged
Jokingly he might have said it, but the man literally took over the league since coming in. Even though he would not win a title until 2000 to show the relevance of his dominance, people who had guarded him or even seen him play know exactly what he means when he says he had emerged in the 90s.
All the rule changes after him just show how easy it was for the 4x champ and 3x Finals MVP to dominate everyone in the league irrespective of their size, excellence, or if what was their day. There might have been a Bill Russell or a Wilt Chamberlain before him, but O’Neal was the last of his kind.
