LA Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal posted an Instagram story reminding his followers of a rare club that he is a part of. O’Neal, who was the number 1 pick of the 1992 NBA draft, also won 3 Finals MVP. He is part of a rare group of number 1 picks who went on to win Finals MVP awards. As a matter of fact, with his 3 MVPs, O’Neal is joint 2nd on the list of most Finals MVPs won by a number 1 draft pick.
Advertisement
Lakers star LeBron James has already picked up 4 and leads the list. O’Neal is tied on 2nd with Tim Duncan, and yet another Lakers legend in Magic Johnson. Magic won the first of his 3 Finals MVPs as a rookie and to date, he is the only rookie to have ever won it.
Shaquille O’Neal reminds fans of exclusive status among number 1 draft picks
Via his Instagram story, O’Neal made sure that people remember one of the many special achievements that his career resulted in. The story was shared in a post by the Fadeaway World Instagram account first, Shaq chose to repost it.
Shaquille O’Neal won the NBA title 4 times, with 3 of those wins coming during his time with the LA Lakers, when they won from 2000-2002. While O’Neal played alongside a young Kobe Bryant from 1996, they only won their first championship in their fifth season together.
Bryant was improving year after year while Shaquille O’Neal dominated the league during this period. This culminated in a 2000-2001 season for the ages, bringing the Lakers their first NBA title since 1982.
O’Neal won the MVP as well as the Finals MVP award, a year after being swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of Playoffs. Shaq had won his first NBA Finals MVP, opening up a three-year run that netted him two more Finals MVP awards.
Tim Duncan and the Spurs, after sweeping the Lakers in 1999, went on to win the NBA Final. Duncan won the Finals MVP, going on to match O’Neal after his awards in 2003 and 2005.
LeBron James on the other hand, won the 2012 and 13 Finals MVP awards with the Miami Heat. He won his 3rd alongside Kyrie Irving during the 2015-16 season when the Cavaliers won the Finals against the Boston Celtics. The Lakers’ 2020 NBA title run came alongside James’ 4th Finals MVP award.
Shaquille O’Neal’s time with LA Lakers hold him in good stead against Tim Duncan and LeBron James
Tim Duncan of the SA Spurs had a decent record against O’Neal. While O’Neal has a winning 33-29 record against Duncan, the two always found it difficult against each other during the playoffs.
During his time at the Lakers, O’Neal went up against the Spurs multiple times and had a 15-15 record in the Playoffs against Tim Duncan. On the other hand, O’Neal did even better against LeBron’s teams and had a 12-7 record against James.
The last time LeBron James was eliminated by a team in his own conference:
Luka Doncic was 11 years old
Anthony Davis was a junior in HS
Tom Brady only had 3 rings
Shaquille O’Neal was still in the league – in fact, he started that game for the Cavaliers pic.twitter.com/slh2IVmeaO
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 4, 2021
Of course, the two also ended up playing together for a year during the 2009-10 season at the Cleveland Cavaliers, although things did not quite work out. A 37-year-old O’Neal was no longer the same player as before and the Cavaliers lost the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics. James, who was still looking to land his first championship, had to wait for two more years before he could win one.
