Tonight at Cyrpto.com Arena LeBron James holds the all-time scoring record in the NBA. A record that stood for 38 years by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is now broken. Kareem passed the torch on to LeBron after he broke his record. In all the celebrations, Shaquille O’Neal got his wish from Abdul-Jabbar in the post-game interview.
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the best players in the NBA and one of the most dominant centers. He spent 19 years in the NBA with the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, and Miami Heat. During his initial years with the Magic and the Lakers, the 7-foot center sought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s approval. However, he was left disgruntled after Abdul-Jabbar wouldn’t even give him recognition.
Big Diesel joined the league in 1992 and established himself as one of the most dominant players. Shaq in his first 3 years with the Magic was unable to get them through to the playoffs. Big Diesel in his first 3 attempts lost in a sweep. When he joined the Lakers his fate followed him there as well. Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers were swept twice in the playoffs.
On this date in 2002, the Los Angeles Lakers won their 3rd straight NBA title, completing a sweep of the New Jersey Nets with a 113-107 win in Game 4 of the ’02 Finals.
Finals MVP Shaquille O’Neal had 34 pts & 10 rebs in the win, while Kobe Bryant added 25 pts, 6 rebs & 8 ast. pic.twitter.com/2aVlKOgQsD
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 12, 2020
When Shaq joined the Lakers, he thought he would share a good relationship with him. However, Kareem criticized Shaq for failing to win a title despite his dominance in the regular season. Kareem never gave any attention to the young center, and this fueled him to get a title with the Lakers.
“You know Kareem said one time…if you said Shaq’s putting up Kareem-type numbers. Kareem said ‘How? He’s not winning championships…Now I’m like okay. Now I’m fucking pissed.” Said, Shaquille O’Neal. This fueled him to win a three-peat with the Lakers and win 3 final MVPs. He won his 4th ring with the Miami Heat.
What did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar say to Shaquille O’Neal?
When LeBron James broke Kareem’s record, the former record holder passed on the torch to the King. LeBron was interviewed by the NBA TNT panelists. So did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did, after his record was broken.
Kareem made Shaquille O’Neal’s day, and he was one of the panelists, in the interview. “I wanna tell Shaq, I asked for you specifically to see me because you felt that I was shaming you or ignoring you. That would never be the case. You showed them what you were all about, the way you crushed all the centers in the league for a couple of years. So I’m on your side Shaq, don’t let anybody ever tell you anything different.” Said Kareem.
This certainly was a heartwarming moment for Big Diesel to hear those words from Kareem. “Hey listen, you now speaking to me was the best thing to happen to my career, because all I wanted to do was impress you sir. So I will talk to you soon, Inshallah, and love you very much, I will never ever have beef with the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, you ain’t gotta worry about that.” Said Shaquille O’Neal.
This Shaq x Kareem exchange is worth the watch, nothing but respect. 🙏
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 8, 2023
The two squashed the beef they had since the beginning of Shaquille O’Neal’s career. It looks like the Lakers legend will be on speaking terms after how they ended things in the interview.
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