The NBA has had a laundry list of ferocious dunkers, who posterized so many rim protectors and terrorized so many teams, that most just accepted their fate and cleared the lane for them to take off. However, Darryl Dawkins and Shaquille O’Neal rank among the most vicious, as they did not only have the bounce to dunk on opponents but also the strength to rip the rim off the backboard.
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Choosing one of the two as the scarier dunker is a toss-up, but not to Patrick Beverley, who believes O’Neal is the most powerful dunker ever. In a discussion with co-host Rone on The Pat Bev Podcast, the guard picked the four-time NBA champion as the best backboard-shattering dunker ever over Dawkins. Explaining why, he said,
“I feel like Shaq did it all the time so like, he was overdoing himself when he was doing… Shaq’s hands must’ve been throbbing after all them dunks.”
Beverley made his pick based on the number of backboards O’Neal shattered. He seemingly has the lead in that category. The Hall of Famer reportedly broke 12 rims during his career. However, he destroyed a backboard only twice during an NBA game, matching Dawkins, who achieved the feat in two weeks during the 1979-80 season.
However, the former Pistons star broke the old-style bolted rim structure, which prompted the league to switch to the breakaway rim. The change did little to prevent O’Neal from destroying two backboards during his rookie season, forcing the NBA to change to tempered shatter-resistant glass and sturdier backboard braces.
The Lakers icon’s stunning display of his raw power left the league with no choice but to invest more money in protecting backboards. O’Neal claimed he intended to break rims in his rookie season, but not the one he wound up shattering.
Shaq recalls the first time he brought down the rim
In an interview with his former Magic teammate and retired point guard, Dennis Scott asked the three-time Finals MVP about his backboard-shattering dunk against the Nets, the second of his rookie season. O’Neal revealed he was motivated to dominate center Dwayne Schintzius, who played for Florida Gators, the conference rivals of O’Neal’s alma mater LSU.
The Hall of Famer claimed he tried to break the rim every time he dunked the ball that night and managed to do it the one time he wasn’t looking to. He said,
“The crazy thing was I wasn’t trying to break it on that one. All the other ones I was trying to break. I just had to go up quick [for the dunk] because he was tall and a shot blocker. And then, when I went up there, it was just lucky.”
O’Neal revealing that he broke the backboard inadvertently speaks volumes about his otherworldly strength. It also validates Beverley picking the four-time champion as the best backboard-shattering dunker ever.
