“This Could Change the Direction of My Career”: Shaquille O’Neal’s Sheer Size Has Richard Jefferson and Tim Legler Opening Up about ‘Fear’ When Facing Opponents

Former NBA stars Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson recently wound up on JJ Redick’s Old Man and the Three podcast. Talking about a range of topics related to their careers, the two were asked whether they ever feared going up against a bona fide NBA legend. Both players refused, with Legler claiming that he never really saw or witnessed such an emotion.

He claimed that despite having played against a range of NBA Hall of Famers, he never saw players being scared of someone in the opposition. Legler further revealed that while players were sometimes nervous while lacing up, ‘fear’ was something he never really experienced.

However, both of them went on to talk about Shaquille O’Neal, claiming that he was the exception to the general rule. Legler claimed that the closest he saw his teammates being scared was when it came to facing Shaq.

“The closest ever…that I saw where guys were a little bit more nervous lacing up, was Shaq…He also could potentially put you on some sort of video clip, that could last a lifetime,” he said.

While Legler claimed that such feelings were reserved for O’Neal, Jefferson talked about how players would actually be concerned about their careers while facing Shaq. “Shaq is the one guy…You are looking at him with the fear that you might get, the full-speed thing. Am I really gonna make a charge on that? Like this can really change the direction of my career,”

Hence, according to Jefferson and Legs, not even the likes of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant generated the same amount of fear that O’Neal could instigate. That, obviously is understandable, considering the dominant ways in which Shaq would regularly embarrass those who went against him, during his prime.

Stephen A. Smith once claimed that Michael Jordan was feared by players, unlike LeBron James

The concept of players being scared to face certain stars has often been brought up by Stephen A. Smith. In order to differentiate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan, Smith had once claimed that while players revere and respect LeBron, they were downright fearful of MJ.

However, it seems as if the likes of Legler, Jefferson and Redick all disagree with the notion. Redick claimed that while there have been teams that they knew they had little chance against, there was never any fear involved.

Redick also claimed that while he would be scared of hurting himself during specific defensive plays against someone like LeBron, there was never any fear involved. The former NBA star talked about some of the best teams he has himself gone against, including the 2016 Warriors, that had the likes of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson in their prime.

However, even if Redick and his teammates knew that they had little chance of winning, it never really translated into fear. Both Jefferson and Legler seemed to agree, even though the dominant Shaquille O’Neal was the only exception, as far as they were concerned.