“Phil Jackson Made Me Do Chores”: $400 Million Worth Shaquille O’Neal Credits Zen Master’s Strictness For His Hall of Fame Career

Shaquille O’Neal is easily one of the greatest of all time. However, achieving that greatness didn’t come easy.

In his 19 seasons in the NBA, Diesel received many awards and a lot of recognition. A resume featuring four NBA Championships, a regular season MVP, and three Finals MVPs is nothing to scoff at. Not to mention he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

But, how did Shaq become a Hall of Fame talent? It’s simple, he listened to the Zen Master, Phil Jackson’s advice.

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Phil Jackson made Shaquille O’Neal one of the greats by giving him advice and making him do chores

Ever since he entered the NBA, Shaq wanted to be one of the greats. However, in his first few seasons in the league, the big man was great but lacked a certain something.

It was discipline. Something he lacked even when he got a whopping $120 million contract from the LA Lakers. But, as he revealed in his docuseries SHAQ, it was Phil Jackson that helped him achieve greatness with sound advice and chores.

“If you listen to me, you’ll get MVP, the regular season, MVP of the All-Star game and you’ll get finals MVP. No more rapping, limit your commercials, and no more parties or hanging out.”

Good advice from the Zen Master. As for the chore, he made the Big Aristotle carry a log outside his house to the river. Quite an unorthodox chore, but one that was certainly effective.

Shaq won three of his four rings under the tutelage of Phil Jackson

O’Neal was a star player when he joined the Lakers. However, he wasn’t a winner. Why? Simply because he had no rings. Well, luckily for him, under the coaching of Phil Jackson, Shaq not only won his first ring but a further two more.

They achieved a lot together. Who knows where their careers would have been if they hadn’t met each other?

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