A teenage phenomenon being labelled a future all time great is always a bit sketchy. Now think about a teenager who is touted to be better than Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Isiah Thomas. If it was not Larry Bird who made the statement no one would even entertain it.
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As unbelievable as it sounds Larry Bird once labelled a teenage Shaquille O’Neal the best player in the world and this was two years before Shaq was even drafted. Shaq was then a budding superstar at LSU and Larry Bird’s predictions would be prophetic soon after.
Bird’s Predictions About Shaq
Around the time the 1990s started, it was clear that the NBA was witnessing unprecedented talent in the form of Michael Jordan. At this time, however legends like Magic and Isiah were still playing at high level. So, when Reggie Miller interviewed Larry Bird on the Reggie Miller Show, he was expecting the usual answers.
However, Bird took him by surprise after he made an astonishing claim. Bird said that there was a teenager in LSU who was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The teenager in question was none other than Shaq, and Bird predicted that he would be the next big thing.
The showstopper was the claim that the best player in the court right then was Shaquille O’Neal. Remember, this was two years before Shaq got drafted. This was a teenage sensation but to predict that he would be an all-time great was brave.
Read more: “How Long Have You Been in the Army?”: 13y/o Shaquille O’Neal was Mistaken for an Adult Soldier by then LSU Coach Dale Brown
Hindsight Makes Things Obvious
Three decades on, the claim that Shaq is an all time great is a platitude. We all know how it turned out. Shaq came into the league and became the unstoppable force that Bird had predicted he would become.
By the time the Big Diesel retired, he had a resume that few in history could match. The kind of domination that Shaq showed in his career has rarely been witnessed. Of course, basketball fans often dream about what Shaq could have achieved if he had the work ethic of a Kobe or a Jordan. The fact remains that even without such an ethic, Shaq still achieved dizzying heights. In the end, Larry Bird was dead on. The eighteen-year-old from LSU would be the next big superstar.
