In 1990, Shaquille O’Neal once let his emotions take over during a college basketball practice session. Following an altercation, the 7ft 1″ NBA legend chased his LSU teammate around with a metal trash can. In 2011, Diesel reflected on that incident in his autobiography Shaq Uncut, while revealing the intricate details.
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The situation sparked right after his freshman year, and it surrounded his teammate Stanley Roberts, “a gifted, skilled player, but the amiable seven-footer”. Despite missing classes and breaking curfew often, he rarely used to show up for practice and only gave “a half-hearted effort” in sessions. This infuriated Shaq as he desired to witness Roberts’ “natural ability”; “A Stanley sighting” as mentioned by then-captain, Wayne Sims.
The entire scenario changed drastically when a former LSU player, Ricky Blanton, paid a visit in the summertime. While Roberts and the Big Aristotle were preparing to contest on the court, Blanton fueled the latter’s confidence, whispering, “Go right at him”. The New Jersey-born followed the order of his senior as he received the ball on the block before dunking on his fellow center.
This paved the way for an interesting premise as both of them “continued to assault each other with ferocious tomahawks”. Soon, the matchup became a bit too physical as the two became tangled before squaring off with each other for a split second. While Roberts minded nothing of it while stepping back, Shaq mentioned, “I was thinking, ‘I’m going to kill him'”.
Following this, he let his aggressive nature take over as mentioned in the book, “[Shaquille] O’Neal glanced around the dungeon for a weapon and settled on a metal trash can. He hoisted it with one hand and began chasing Stanley Roberts with it”. The leader’s best efforts to put an end to it came in vain as Roberts later told Sims, “Shaq is crazy” before adding “And you wonder why I don’t show up for pickup”.
This provided a glimpse into the competitive mindset of Shaq as he wanted to continuously test himself against the best. This approach fueled his growth immensely as just a year later he became the Associated Press Player of the Year while leading the NCAA in rebounding. Soon after that, he entered the league, taking the modern game by storm and cementing his place in its history.
The diverged career paths of Shaquille O’Neal and Stanley Roberts
The altercation certainly rekindled Roberts’ interest in basketball as he took his “Stanley sighting” to Real Madrid that year. Interestingly, the Orlando Magic drafted him in 1991 before letting him go just a year later to select Shaq. He went on the feature in the NBA for nearly a decade, before an injury-ridden journey cut his tenure short.
As for O’Neal, he rose to stardom rapidly by leading the league in points per game with 29.3 in just his third year. Following this, he played in the league for 19 seasons, winning four championships, three Finals MVPs, and one MVP award. The 15x All-Star also solidified his place as the most dominant player of all time while becoming a Top 75 player and a Hall of Famer.
Thus, the argument in LSU court in 1990 was a snapshot of disagreement between two future NBA stars. They both later popularized their names in the circuit on their rights, fulfilling their dreams of entering the league. That said, while Roberts served as a rotation player, Shaq became a nightmare to his opponents.
