“Larry Bird Said I Would Be the GOAT of Centers!”: Shaquille O’Neal Once Opened Up on How Celtics Legend Made Him Great

Shaquille O’Neal is one of those ultra-lovable, massive teddy bear-esque people today. After all, he has set up this massive, massive image of a fun-loving man, who is also one of the kindest, most generous people on the planet, helping out complete strangers whenever he can.

But of course, while he was in the NBA, things were very different.

He was known as the big bad bully. Especially during his prime, this man would simply use his size to strong-arm just about any and every big man in the league to get what he wanted.

Now, of course, his stepfather played a massive part in him becoming the player he did. But, right before he got into the NBA, it appears that Larry Bird decided to pay him a massive favor too.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

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Shaquille O’Neal was given a massive compliment by Larry Bird on live television

Larry Bird is one of the greatest players to ever pick up a basketball. And of course, the Hick from French Lick’s stories of savagery knows no limits.

But, it appears that the man wasn’t always in the business of humiliating every other person on the planet. No, sometimes he dished out a few compliments too.

And as Shaq revealed, he was lucky enough to be at the center of one of those occasions before he even got into the NBA.

Until the very end of his career, Shaquille O’Neal probably kept thanking Larry Bird in his head for giving him all that confidence.

However, Chris Dudley was probably cussing the legend out for his words on a very specific day.

 

Shaquille O’Neal once almost made Chris Dudley cry

During his prime in the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal was pulling all sorts of things… including shattering other people’s confidence with his own.

Yikes.

We hope Chris Dudley has recovered from the trauma on that one.

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