Shaquille O’Neal is regarded as one of the most dominant centers to have stepped foot on the NBA hardwood. The Diesel showed his prowess and dominance through his earth-shattering dunks and powerful drives inside the post to score easy buckets. One of the most defining moments of Shaq’s career came from his backboard-breaking dunks, which elevated Diesel’s popularity to an umpteen level.
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As a rookie, Shaq had started gaining immense fame and popularity for such posterizing dunks that mostly defined the peak of his career. His popularity and fame started earning him the attention of brands who wanted to capitalize on his dominance and prowess to promote their products. One such company was Pepsi, which was in touch with Shaq’s agent, Leonard Armato, to create a commercial out of Shaq’s powerful dunking skills.
In his 2011 autobiography, Shaq Uncut, the big man mentioned how Pepsi had drawn up a commercial featuring a ‘bigger-than-life’ Shaq reaching through the roof of an arena, grabbing the basketball rim, and tearing it off. Surely, that would have been a great ad featuring the big man’s prowess and could have elevated his popularity to greater levels as a rookie. However, Shaq surprisingly rejected this offer, citing quite valid reasons for the same.
Shaq has always been extremely pragmatic and practical in his approach. He would not let his values conflict with opportunities, which gave him the liberty to choose projects or deals that suited his liking. When the big man was appraised of this idea, it did not appease him. Explaining his reasons for rejecting the opportunity, he said,
“I only do what’s real. Like tearing down rims and playing with kids.”
And indeed, that’s exactly what Shaq continued doing for the entirety of his career. While playing in the league, there have been two documented occasions where Shaq has broken the rim, all during his rookie season. The first was against the Phoenix Suns, and the second was against the New Jersey Nets as a reply to Derrick Coleman’s trash talks. However, many sources count that Shaq has unofficially broken 12 rings.
The big man loves discussing and boasting about his career achievements on his social media pages. In 2017, he posted a picture of himself in front of a tree made up of several rims. In the caption, Shaq wrote, “These are all the backboards I have broken this is the “BROKEN RIM TREE.'”
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Shaq has given us several moments and highlights from his career that prove his dominance during his playing days. In today’s era, Shaq’s career is considered a standard for the new-age centers and big men, who are inspired by Diesel to have a dominating career in the NBA.
Shaquille O’Neal played the role of Kazaam to entertain the kids
Shaquille O’Neal was always fascinated with the idea of being a role model-like figure for the kids and young adults who looked up to him. Hence, even off the court, Big Diesel would try engaging in activities to help him connect with his younger fans.
Besides being an NBA legend, Shaq was a marketing genius and a brand in his own rights. He had already earned millions from his sponsorship and marketing deals and planned to break it into the entertainment industry through acting.
Shaq has acted in several movies, such as Blue Chips and Steel. However, agreeing to act in the 1996 comedy ‘Kazaam’ was perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in Big Aristotle’s acting career. Though the movie was a commercial disaster, Shaq wanted to break it into the movie industry and find a way to entertain the kids.
A $7,000,000 offer was tempting enough for the big man not to refuse. Hence, Shaq accepted the role offered by the makers of Kazaam, which gave us one of the most hilarious and notoriously unsuccessful movie artifacts from the 90s decade.
