The way Shaquille O’Neal’s is perceived now, after a legacy-defining career, is starkly different to what fans and analysts saw him as in his first eight years in the NBA. Shaq wasn’t a winner yet and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, arguably the greatest big-man of all time, reiterated it a few times back then. The harsh criticism still rings in Shaq’s ears.
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Kareem kept going at O’Neal for getting swept in the Playoffs throughout the 1990s. The constant critique led him to switch gears, revealed Shaq, adding that his mother, Lucille O’Neal, helped him deal with the ‘scathing’ take from KAJ in a constructive manner.
“Kareem said, ‘Yeah but he gets swept every year in the Playoffs and he doesn’t win the championship.’ Not only did it hurt, it was the truth. A lot of times before you get sensitive, my mother taught me to see if there’s some truth in the criticism and Kareem Abdu-Jabbar was a million percent right,” O’Neal said on Rich Eisen Show.
Shaq’s accomplishments since then speak volumes about the transformation. Four championships, an MVP and three straight Finals MVPs indeed put the ‘Shaq can’t win’ narrative to bed.
O’Neal is pretty proud that he was able to withstand the barrage of harsh comments, and come out of it not just unscathed but with flying colors.
“When Kareem was doing all that talking, I said, ‘you’re right Mr. Abdul-Jabbar, I’m not winning, I appreciate it’,” Shaq had said on All The Smoke.
Shaq and Abdul-Jabbar have buried the hatchet
It has been over two decades since Shaq and Abdul-Jabbar’s war of words. Everything from Kareem’s dig at Shaq’s lack of success with the team to O’Neal’s 61-point response against the Clippers while Abdul-Jabbar was on the Clips bench… It has all been left in the past by both legends
During Kareem’s appearance on Inside the NBA last year, the two Lakers greats exchanged pleasantries on screen. This was a sign that their so-called ‘beef’ was well and truly over.
“You felt that I was shaming you or ignoring you; that would never be the case. I’m on your side Shaq,” said Kareem to O’Neal.
Shaq’s response was just as heartwarming. “You not speaking to me was the best thing that happened to my career because all I wanted to do was impress you sir. I will talk to you soon inshallah and I love you very much,” he said, brimming with emotions.
Now that Shaq has made amends with Kareem, he can focus on the only ‘feud’ he is left with. That’s against almost all the big-men playing in the NBA today. It is largely due to how today’s players are unwilling to take criticism the way Shaq did with KAJ’s comments.
