“I Looked Back First”: Shaquille O’Neal Reasons His ‘Disrespectful’ Dunk on Chris Dudley

Shaquille O’Neal recently provided some context to his most disrespectful dunk of all time. The big fella was a menace on the court in the 90s and early 2000s, and his dunk on Chris Dudley happened on the same timeline. However, that particular dunk had a backstory to it. During a recent conversation with JJ Redick on The Old Man and the Three podcast, Shaq detailed the events that led to him putting Dudley on a poster.

Redick brought up this topic to Shaq by saying, “One of my favorite dunks in NBA history is your dunk on Chris Dudley. I find it to be incredibly disrespectful.” As he was laughing at the thought of the dunk, Shaq put his serious face on and revealed the backstory to JJ. Apparently, Shaq felt disrespected by the Knicks during a regular season game.

The big man didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t being double-teamed by the Knicks, which he found to be incredibly disrespectful. This is 1999 Shaq we’re talking about, in the prime of his physical prowess.

The big fella said, “It’s like, if you look [at the clip], I looked back and I’m like, ‘Oh really?” Despite being enraged by the casual nature of their defense, Shaq waited till three dribbles to see if the Knicks were willing to check their mistake. They didn’t.

Unfortunately, Dudley had to become a victim of Shaq’s powerful leap. Once he was down on the floor after the powerful slam, the big fella shoved the Knicks star to the ground to complete the sequence.

There was one more reason why the Lakers legend didn’t like Dudley in his face, all by himself. Shaq said, “I think he was playing for Pat Riley at the time. I just hated that [intimidation technique].”

Another disrespectful moment that he recalled on a podcast was in the 2001 NBA Finals.

Shaquille O’Neal got his revenge on Dikembe Mutombo

When the Lakers were on their way to three peat the NBA title, Shaq was the most dominant player in the league. So, when they met the 76ers in the 2001 NBA Finals, it was about to be a special showdown. The 76ers were riding high on the fact that Dikembe Mutombo was the DPOY that season. So, based on their assumption, he was enough to guard Shaq one-on-one.

The big fella recalled the story on The Big Podcast, when he had rapper T.I. as a guest. Shaq said, “Don’t disrespect me by saying you gonna play me one-on-one. I take that as a sign of disrespect. So, I’m looking at the paper, ‘I’m Defensive Player of the Year, I can play Shaq one-on-one.’ It’s a sign of disrespect.”

Even though the 76ers took away game one, the Lakers clinched four consecutive games to take the trophy home.