Shaquille O’Neal is still not over losing the 1994 NBA Scoring title. After he recently got to know that some behind-the-scenes politics led to him missing out on the honor, Shaq has been livid. On The Big Podcast, the Lakers legend wondered if he should legal action against the NBA for doing him dirty.
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The conversation started after host Adam Lefkoe brought up a confession made by Dominique Wilkins on the Knuckleheads Podcast. The NBA legend admitted that the then Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, told the coach to take out important players early into the game so that David Robinson could get his shot at the scoring title.
This was allegedly done to ensure that the coveted title stayed in the Western Conference. When Shaq first learned about it in August via an Instagram reel, he commented on the post, “I fu**in knew it.”
On his Big Podcast‘s latest episode with Baron Davis, Shaq said, “Should I sue? [On the grounds of] point shaving, tampering? I wonder if David Robinson was in on this.”
The race for scoring title was very close in 1994. With Shaq and the Admiral gunning for the same, it came down to their respective last games of the season.
The then Orlando Magic star played his last game against the Nets and dropped 32 points. To beat the big fella, Robinson needed 33 points. Well, he scored double of that and then some. In his last game against the Clippers, Robinson dropped a career-high 71-point performance.
Although Shaq went on to win the scoring title the following year and then again in 2000, losing to Robinson in such a messy way is still a sore spot for him. The big man admitted that he watched the last game of the season and was “pissed” at what he saw. He claimed that there were some “shenanigans” going on during the game that seemed fishy to him back then.
While Shaq is still bitter about it, and rightfully so, Robinson revealed during an interview that he couldn’t believe he scored 71 points. He said, “I looked up at the scoreboard. I said, ’71 points. Oh, my goodness!’ It was unbelievable. My team has been behind me the whole year.”
“They always push me to do a lot of individual things. As a leader, I just try to win games, but tonight they really wanted me to shoot it. When the game started they were looking for me almost every time down the court.”
It’ll be interesting to see if Shaq will follow up with what he said about suing on his podcast. If he does, there’s surely a case for him based on all the available testimony.
