Here’s 150 of the most devastating Shaquille O’Neal’s dunks

“The relationship was established out of respect for one another,” Mourning said Thursday, as he made his way to Springfield. I can recall, 15 years ago, O’Neal seated in the locker room at the United Center in Chicago, taking off his shoe and showing me his left little toe, which was crooked and curled under, looking especially painful because it was attached to a size-22 foot.

Not a bad regret after a dominant 19-year career that began in 1992 and concluded in 2011.

Now, O’Neal is set to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Bryant made sure to offer him his congratulations on Instagram. “We had a lot of opportunities to get it done”, O’Neal said. Here are the many reasons why there may never be another player like him. O’Neal began wrecking havoc on the league seemingly the second he stepped on the parquet floor in the old “O-Rena”, averaging almost 24 points and 14 rebounds his rookie year, earning him Rookie of the Year honors, as well as an All-Star nod.

O’Neal’s family have many ties to the military and law enforcement. Yet when it comes to actual impact on the game itself, one name stands out. Literally. There was no one in the league that could go toe-to-toe with the O’Neal straight up, and future hall of fame centers were not excluded. “I did what I had to do to make guys better”.

Judging by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s embrace at the latter’s final Lakers’ game, you would be under the impression that the two had finally completely squashed their beef. He’s the last great National Basketball Association center – big men who dominated in the paint and didn’t hang around the perimeter in the type of small-ball lineups that are prevalent today.

I got delayed with business that day and Shaq got to my house a few hours before I did. Big fella, big fella!’ I finally turn around and tell him, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to hit the man.

It was the beginning of a rewarding and tumultuous eight seasons. The game was crowning jewel for O’Neal, who won the Finals MVP award averaging 38 points a game – the highest average for a center in the history of the Finals. By season’s end, he was the MVP.

Though he never led LSU to great heights in his three years here (the Tigers never made it past the NCAA tournament’s second round), O’Neal defined his position for a generation once in the National Basketball Association. Bryant finished 12th. In 2001, O’Neal finished third, securing seven first-place votes.

O’Neal also brought a big personality to the league, too.

As a child, O’Neal looked up to Julius Erving, who will present O’Neal into the Hall of Fame. Zero. I didn’t want to be part of that. And although Riley believes Miami would have given San Antonio a run for the title had Wade been healthy, he also believed he needed to strengthen the bench with more veterans. But he showed flashes of it while he was with the Suns, much to the delight (or demise) of the Phoenix faithful. He played for the Boston Celtics in his final season and lost to the James-led Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

As evidenced by his TV work, Shaq loves to talk.