Even before stepping onto an official NBA court, Shaquille O’Neal was a star at the collegiate level. With him consistently making highlight plays at LSU, there wasn’t any team in the league that did not want to sign the seven-footer in the 1992 NBA draft. There was no doubt that the team that got the first overall pick would be using it on Shaquille O’Neal. And even though the Orlando Magic lucked out, there were at least 10 other teams in line, who had Shaq’s name printed on one of their home jerseys on lottery night.
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Back then, almost every other team had the player’s name embossed over the team’s logo on the jersey. The following is how the night went down, as seen in the book, Shaq Uncut.
“All eleven men representing their franchises in the NBA draft lottery had printed up a team jersey with Shaq’s name embossed in big letters above their respective logos. There was a Dallas Shaq jersey, a Milwaukee Shaq jersey, and a Washington Shaq jersey. With ten of the sixty-six Ping-Pong balls in the mix bearing Orlando’s name, the Magic had just over a 15 percent chance of landing the big fella. One by one, the draft order was revealed.
The Houston Rockets were stuck with No. 11 and a Shaq jersey that was instantly rendered useless. The Atlanta Hawks suffered a similar fate when their logo popped up at No. 10. As the Shaq sweepstakes dwindled to five, Mavericks owner Donald Carter caressed his lucky coyote tooth, but it yielded him only the fourth overall pick. Finally, there were three teams left standing—Charlotte, Minnesota, and Orlando.”
Of course, O’Neal wasn’t the massive personality he would go on to become in Los Angeles just yet. That said, he was already a scout’s dream by this point. In an era of big men, Shaq displayed the potential to arguably be the greatest one to ever lace up. And sure enough, by the time he retired, he had solidified himself as the most dominant big man of all time.
Shaquille O’Neal was relieved that he did not go to Minnesota
It was a memorable and iconic night for a young Shaquille O’Neal back in 1992. Even though Shaq knew he would get selected with the first overall pick, cold sweats and a bit of feeling nervous were bound to happen.
But when it was finally announced that Shaq would be going to the Orlando Magic instead of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the young LSU center was over the moon. It wasn’t because Shaq did not like the Timberwolves or the people but the weather that became a deciding factor.
However, Shaq eventually made the jump from Orlando to LA within four years as well. That is where he transformed himself into a bulldozer and quite possibly the most dominant center to go down in NBA history. Basically as the player that most fans remember him as.
