Shaquille O’Neal has achieved a lot of things in his career, and he’s been one of the most dominant players, but he was atrocious at free throws, something he’s self-aware of.
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The LA legend was the catalyst of the Lakers dynasty in the 2000s. He was the star of a team that won three titles in a row, forming a dynamic duo with Kobe Bryant.
There was nobody who could stop Shaq back in the day. He was the most dominant physical force to have ever played basketball, and he completely owned the paint.
Shaq was a menace on both sides of the ball. He could control the paint with his size, deterring anyone who dared to enter. We haven’t seen anyone dominant the inside game quite like Shaq since his glory days. Back then, he was an absolute beast to watch.
Shaquille O’Neal took a shot against himself
Shaq’s paint presence was perhaps the best in NBA history. He could post up on any player in the league without difficulty. His patented move was backing down a player into submission and then turning around and slamming it down on their heads.
He would throw down the ball with so much force that he used to tear down entire backboards. In fact, it’s because of Shaq that the NBA added suspension to their backboards, literally changing the design of their rim and backboard because he used to break them so often.
However, just like every other NBA player, Shaq had his weaknesses. The biggest thing he could never figure out how to do was shoot free throws.
Over his career, Shaq missed 5,317 free throws, at a rate of about 4.4 misses per game. His free throw percentage was abysmally low at 52.7%.
However, Shaq didn’t care much about. After all, he won four titles. He’s even willing to joke around about his terrible free throw habits while trying to nail bottle flips.
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