Shaquille O’Neal is a dominant force both on and off the court. The 7’1″ is undoubtedly fun-loving, but when it comes to respect and money, the Big Fella doesn’t play around. O’Neal who was known to be a prankster, never really held back when he had to prove a point, often going to extreme lengths to get at people.
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A similar situation happened back in 1997 when Shaq decided to punk a rookie Shea Seals for disobeying him. The entire incident took place when Shea refused to get a veteran on the Lakers squad a Gatorade. On hearing the young rookie’s refusal, Shaq ordered the rookie to complete the task, to which Seals refused once again.
This behaviour from Shea Seals didn’t sit too well with Shaq, as he decided to set an example through him. As Shea finished showering and stepped out, he couldn’t find his suit. On asking his teammate Garciduenas where his suit was, his colleague just shrugged.
After searching all over the locker room, a rookie Seals found his suit at the bottom of a dirty laundry bag. The suit which was once in pristine condition, now looked like a dirty rag. Shaq would later ensure that he got his point across, as he would later drop by the locker room, having choice words for the rookie Seals. Recounting the incident in the book, Shaq Uncut, the author wrote,
“When O’Neal spotted Seals, he said, ‘Do what I say,’ and walked off. ‘I learned not to mess with Shaq,’ Seals said. ‘I wasn’t gonna win that one.’ “
This was not the first time that Shaq ensured that his rookies stayed in line. From taking a dump in teammates’ shoes to smacking people during practice, Shaq has always made sure that his teams understand one thing, that there is always a pecking order, and The Diesel always stood on the top.
Shaquille O’Neal didn’t even spare a young Kobe Bryant
Rookie hazing is something that has existed since the inception of the league. No matter who you are, no matter where you played before this, a first-year player was always hazed by the veterans.
Shaquille O’Neal might have been the only rookie to not be touched, as even Kobe Bryant faced some amount of hazing. Kobe was mostly untouchable( his rookie year), he had a broken wrist, and he couldn’t be made to lift any bags or bring food for the rest of the team. But regardless Shaq used to make him do goofy things like freestyle for the entire team or write rhymes.
Recalling the incident, Shaq wrote in his book Shaq Uncut,
“He(Kobe) sat, unavailable, with a bum wrist. So he was deemed largely off-limits….We did not get to haze him(Bryant) quite as much. Getting doughnuts and carrying bags and that sort of thing. Shaq did have him do some goofy things, like bust a freestyle rap for all of us.”
In fact, during a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, O’Neal recalled how Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Mitch Kupchak arrived at Shaq’s doorstep, ordering him to stop hazing Kobe, and this was just after one night of hazing. Just like O’Neal, Kobe was rather untouchable from the start, something that served the Lakers well, as Kobe would end up becoming the greatest Laker ever.
