Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance in the NBA was something unprecedented. However, people caught a whiff of Shaq’s greatness from his college days. The Hall of Famer was a force of nature during his stint with LSU. Rapper Gillie Da Kid is an eye-witness to young O’Neal’s unfathomable dominance in the NCAA scene. On the latest episode of the Pat Bev Podcast, the rapper shed light on how he knew Shaq would hoist an NBA title when the basketball icon was just a teenager.
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Shaq ended up sharing a clip of Gillie Da Kid’s account on his Instagram stories. In the video, the veteran rapper explained why he bought into the Diesel’s hype train early, “Out of every player that I ever seen play since I was a kid, it was only one person that I ever seen in college. And I was like, ‘You know, he’s winning a Championship in the NBA.’ That was Shaq. He’s winning at least once. You knew it.”
Gillie added that O’Neal was a better and more guaranteed prospect than even LeBron James. The King was dubbed ‘The Chosen One’ in high school. However, according to the rapper, he had more faith in Shaq becoming a superstar than James. The 40-year-old explained:
“When LeBron was coming out of high school, you was like, when is he going to be good? He probably going to be good. You, you didn’t know. Cause he was 18 years old. You watch Shaq play in college, you like, he just dunked on six people, bro. He dunked on five players on the other team and one on his team.”
Gillie is spot on with his assessment. However, Shaq being a more hot draft prospect then LeBron might be a controversial take for many. James entered the NBA straight out of high school. In his senior year, he averaged 31.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists. In O’Neal’s senior year in high school, he averaged 31 points, 22 rebounds and six assists.
It can be easily argued that the center was a better high school prospect than James. However, during O’Neal’s teenage days, players entered the draft after a brief stint in college. So Shaq had to spend three years at Louisiana State University, where he continued to dominate his peers.
O’Neal averaged 13.9 points, 12 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in his freshman season. The following season, he upped his game and averaged 27.4 points, 14.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. When O’Neal declared for the 1992 NBA draft after a third dominant year with LSU, the Orlando Magic picked him first overall. As Gillie predicted, he won four NBA titles, three Finals MVP awards, and a first-ballot Hall of Fame enshrinement.
It is no surprise that Gillie was more enamoured with Shaq’s college exploits than LeBron’s high school game. LeBron was in the NBA at the age Shaq was breaking backboards for LSU. Therefore, the big man looked more ready for NBA greatness to the rapper.
Shaquille O’Neal’s father altered his playing style permanently
When Shaquille O’Neal dominated during high school games, he used to practice Magic Johnson and Dr. J‘s moves. However, that backfired on him spectacularly. In the HBO docu-series titled ‘Shaq,’ O’Neal revealed that his high school team was leading comfortably in a game when he decided to practice dribbling and finger-roll finishing.
O’Neal’s stepfather, Phillip Harrison, was in attendance for the game. He walked onto the court and demanded a timeout. Subsequently, Harrison took O’Neal to the side and demanded an explanation for his showboating. The young prodigy explained he was trying to emulate Magic Johnson, which earned him a slap. Explaining how that incident permanently altered his outlook, O’Neal said:
“[My father told me] ‘F**k that. Be Shaquille O’Neal. Dunk it every f*cking time.’ The boys knew what happened. They knew Serg done touched me up. When I dunked, I was so fucking mad I wanted to break the rim off. For him.”
Every player with the misfortune of guarding O’Neal wished his stepfather let him work on his moves. Instead, that incident turned the basketball star into a rim-shattering behemoth and one of most unstoppable forces in NBA history.
