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“Steph Curry”: Shaquille O’Neal Likens Himself to the Three-Point King Despite Averaging Just 4.5% Over His Career

Tonoy Sengupta
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"Steph Curry": Shaquille O'Neal Likens Himself to the Three-Point King Despite Averaging Just 4.5% Over His Career

Shaquille O’Neal was one of the best players to ever grace the basketball court during his hay day. But of course, you know that already. You’ve probably heard over, and over again about how the man used every inch of his size (pause) to back up and bang on his opponents (again, pause), in order to dominate them every night (say it with me now…).

However, allow us to tell you something that you also probably know already. The man was an atrocious three-point shooter. Scratch that, he was an atrocious shooter outside of maybe even 6 feet from the hoop. So, when the man proclaims he is now like Stephen Curry. You’ve got to scoff a little bit.

As it turns out though, the man may not have been lying completely. You see, to stay fit, O’Neal has continued to play basketball to stay fit. And so of course, with time, he grew curious about the outside shot, something that has apparently started to pay dividends.

 

Shaquille O’Neal is now a 7’1” Stephen Curry

Now, you might think we’re exaggerating a bit on this one. But, that’s the thing. You forget that Shaquille O’Neal is no Ben Simmons. The man actually worked on his game, and now it has started to show. If you don’t believe that, just take a look below at the Instagram post, and the man sharing it, below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by SportsCenter (@sportscenter)

“Steph Curry” 

Granted, these shots could just be one attempt of 5 billion or so. But hey, the man made it fair and square. And he made it look a bit too easy while doing it. So, we’re going to take a business decision here, and believe this man.

That said though, let’s get some numbers into the mix here. Just how much has the man improved here? Or rather, more specifically, just how bad was his shooting ability from beyond the arc during his career?

How many threes did Shaquille O’Neal take and make over the course of his career?

Over the course of his 19-year career, Shaquille O’Neal took a grand total of 22 threes. Out of these, the big man made a single one. And boy was it a good one.

This gives him a shooting percentage of 4.5% from beyond the arc. It doesn’t get much worse than that. But then again, to be fair, he could have made 0 three-pointers too, much like Ben Simmons. So, perhaps the man deserves some flowers here.

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

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Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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