Shaquille O’Neal has always been a man of many talents. At the age of 52, Shaq is an NBA analyst for TNT, a renowned DJ, a podcaster, and a rapper, among other things. During his early NBA days, there were a few more things that he used to do apart from playing basketball. While now he gets praised for it, he was being criticized at the time by many for his ‘extra-curricular activities’. However, Shaq shut down all his naysayers simply by quoting his numbers.
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The big fella was always passionate about music. As his fame grew as the centerpiece of the LA Lakers, people started offering him movies and TV shows as well. His first rap album Shaq Diesel, which was released in 1993, went platinum. The follow-up to that was Shaq Fu: Da Return which was a certified gold album. Then the big man did movies like Kazaam in 1996, which made people wonder if he was getting off track with the thing that he was supposed to do, play basketball. In his 2011 memoir Shaq Uncut, the NBA legend detailed a conversation he had with Lakers GM Jerry West in the 90s about his off-court adventures.
“Now there’s a lot of distractions out here in LA, so you’ve got to stay away from the limelight because people are going to target you. There’s a party every night, so you’ve got to control that. And watch out on the movies—they take more time than you think,” West warned Shaq.
Even though he pretended to agree with what West said, deep in his heart Shaq knew he could handle both. In addition to that, he was so confident in himself that he wrote, “What, twenty-nine points and thirteen rebounds a game aren’t enough?” Shaq also mentioned his work ethic for the people who trashed him for focusing too much on “extracurricular activities.”
He said, “I’d do my movie stuff and my rap stuff, but that never stopped me from getting into the gym and putting in my work on a daily basis.” The big man mentioned that he practiced every aspect of the game, including the infamous free throws. He used to put so much effort into shooting them properly that he had to ice his wrists after every workout.
Shaquille O’Neal had a unique way of handling pressure
Shaq has always been the same fun-loving guy and that often made people believe that he wasn’t as serious about his work. During an appearance on the Impaulsive podcast, Shaq recalled being schooled by his sergeant father over his method of handling pressure. Shaq said that in his rookie year, he had a bad game against the Knicks. After the game, he received a call from his father who ordered him to come home. After he arrived, Sergeant Harrison told a young Shaq to be ready at 5 am. They sat in the car in the morning and his father drove him to a homeless family he was supporting financially.
There he asked him what was wrong with him and why he was he performing terribly on the court. When Shaq told his father that the pressure is getting to him, he pointed to the homeless family and told him, “You spoiled motherf**ker. You’re making all this money and you’re talking about pressure… This is pressure where you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.” That hour long conversation put things in perspective for the big man and he went on to be regarded as the most dominant player in the history of the league.
