“It’s Too Early For You, Shaquille O’Neal!”: Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, and Bill Russell Once Gave the Big Diesel Hilarious Rookie Duties

Shaquille O’Neal is unequivocally one of the greatest NBA centers of all time. Some would even say he is in fact, the greatest. Whatever the case may be on that, it sure wasn’t an easy path for him.

Shaq came into the league with quite a bit of anticipation behind him. After all, it’s difficult not to get excited about a young player who’s been routinely shattering backboards and egos on his way to the league.

However, that also put him on many NBA veterans’ bad side.

In the NBA, O’Neal spent his first year getting thrown around a little, before gaining his footing. But while he eventually acclimatized and dominated, this made him feel like he was going through several tests to prove himself.

And it’s this idea that Reebok once decided to use for a now legendary commercial.

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Shaquille O’Neal had to prove he was ready to Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, and Bill Walton

As you might expect, Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t the first to be great at his position. Of course, there were those that came before him.

And it appears that some of them saw him come before them to prove himself in the most hilarious of ways.

Take a look at the YouTube clip below to see it all go down.

While Kareem-Abdul Jabbar was known to be a largely serious person, having him clean the floor full of broken glass still seems a bit too much for a test.

Shaquille O’Neal may have been dead on about the rookie duty part.

 

Who owns Reebok now?

Over the years, Reebok has gone through quite a slew of ownerships, with Adidas even being the last couple of owners of the once highly influential brand. But frankly, even that couldn’t quite do the brand justice.

So, Shaquille O’Neal took over instead.

“Who owns Elvis Presly?
Who owns Marlyn Monroe?
Who owns Muhammad Ali, Reebok, Forever21?
Me!”

– Shaquille O’Neal

Shaq owns & is an investor in more than 50 brands.

A Thread pic.twitter.com/alqhdQRQ0g

— Atharva Kharbade (@athrvakhrbde) January 11, 2022

As a former endorser of the brand, Shaq will likely know exactly what the brand once was like. And given the businessman that he is, it’s hard not to imagine the man bringing the glory days back to the company.

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