In March, Shaquille O’Neal teased dusting off his Superman cloak and resuming his basketball career. During an episode of The Big Podcast, he asked co-host Mario Chalmers if he could play in rapper Ice Cube’s Big 3 league, who responded with an affirmative. The hip-hop icon caught wind of the conversation and extended an invite to O’Neal, but the Hall of Famer has claimed that his return isn’t forthcoming.
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On the latest episode of the podcast, O’Neal apologized to Ice Cube for getting his hopes up about him joining the league. The four-time NBA champion told the rapper that after receiving his invite, he tried to get in shape and even tested himself against recreational players, only to learn that he shouldn’t hit the court anymore. He said,
“I owe you an apology… Believe it or not, I tried to get in the gym and I ain’t got it no more, dog. My s**t’s gone. Like, I’ve been eating right and running and jumping. And I tried to play in LA Fitness, I looked like the worst big man ever, dog. I ain’t got it. I wouldn’t come out there and embarrass your league and I definitely wouldn’t come out and embarrass myself. So maybe next year.”
While O’Neal claimed that he’d try again next year, suggesting he’d work seriously in a bid to return to professional basketball, it’s unlikely that fans will ever see him play again.
The 52-year-old underwent hip surgery in March 2023 to fix a nagging injury, which likely stemmed from the decades he spent taking and dishing vicious bumps on the basketball court. And given how his career ended, it’d be best if he stuck to playing recreationally.
The anti-climactic ending to Shaquille O’Neal’s glorious NBA career
After Kobe Bryant won his fifth ring in 2010, he famously claimed, “I got one more than Shaq”. Seemingly in retaliation, O’Neal joined forces with the Boston Celtics, who were the reigning Eastern Conference Champions. Hoping the All-Star Quartet of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo would be able to help him win his 5th ring, thus drawing level with Bryant, Shaq’s Celtics career was disastrous. The phrase “Celtics Shaq” is still mentioned to this day as a way of describing a player well past his prime.
Shaq averaged career lows across the board in Boston, and a string of injuries to an already worn-out body forced the Laker legend to call it quits after the conclusion of the 2011 season.
The health issues weren’t surprising. In addition to playing the most brutal position on the court, Shaq took little care of his health, allowing himself to balloon up to over 400 pounds in his prime. His disregard for his weight, when combined with his overly physical playstyle, and the hits he took during the peak of the “hack-a-Shaq” era meant the Center had no choice but to stop playing when he did.
O’Neal is finally taking his health seriously, but the effects of the decades of abuse his body has suffered will continue to rear its ugly head from time to time. It’s best if he steers clear of anything as physically tasking as playing professional basketball.
