Shaquille O’Neal played in every big game he possibly could during his career. He featured in six NBA Finals and starred in four Game 7s in the playoffs. He also played in the gold medal match in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics albeit for only five minutes. However, there’s one contest that he was scheduled to participate in but couldn’t due to a blackout.
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The game had no trophies, medals, or accolades on the line. Instead, it was to settle a raging beef between rappers Jay-Z and Fat Joe. The contest, named the Entertainer’s Basketball Classic, was scheduled to take place at New York’s famous Rucker Pack and featured two star-studded teams picked by the artists themselves to represent them.
Jay-Z summoned Shaq, LeBron James, Jamal Crawford, Lamar Odom and Sebastian Telfair. Fat Joe picked Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Yao Ming, Jermaine O’Neal, and Stephon Marbury. The game, scheduled for August 14th, 2003, was set to be the greatest pickup game ever played.
But it was ruled out because of an unfortunate city-wide blackout.
O’Neal seemingly still ponders about how it would’ve played out. The Lakers icon shared a post about it on his Instagram stories in what would’ve been its 21st anniversary week.
Shaq thinks about the Greatest Game That was Never Played pic.twitter.com/vhGJbdStNB
— What are (W)NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) August 16, 2024
On that fateful evening, the players, fans, and rappers arrived at Rucker Park, but the game couldn’t get underway as the city was experiencing its biggest blackout since 1977. Given the hype and excitement about the event, Jay-Z didn’t want the event to be canceled.
August 14, 2003: The greatest game that never was.
LeBron, Shaq and Jay-Z were supposed to play against Carmelo, Yao Ming and Fat Joe at Rucker Park. But a massive blackout shut down New York. (: freshfocussports) pic.twitter.com/LSmnZ0CeMc
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) August 14, 2018
He came up with a radical solution on the fly. The rapper suggested that cars should lineup around the court with headlines on so there’s enough visibility to play the game. They went to NYPD with their proposal but were turned away and the contest was postponed.
The game was never played after that night and went down in basketball folklore as the ‘The Greatest Game Never Played.’ O’Neal seemingly wishes it did, but there’s nothing he can do except wonder how it’d have gone.
