Shaquille O’Neal, known as Shaq, struggled with the transition once his basketball skills began to decline after dominating the court for so long.
Despite playing well beyond his prime, in his final season with the Boston Celtics in 2010-11, he only averaged 9.2 points per game.
In a recent episode of JJ Redick’s podcast, ‘The Old Man and the Three’, O’Neal expressed the difficulty he faced as his prime years came to an end.
“Not being ‘him’,” he said. “‘Him’ is 28/10. Averaged nine points in Boston. I felt like I was robbing the people. I felt so bad that when they called me back and said, ‘Hey man, we owe you $1.5 [million].’ I said keep it. Keep it. I’m not coming up there to average six points… I was dominant for so long, I never even thought about, ‘Hey one day, it’s going to be gone.’
It first hit me when I didn’t make the All-Star team. I had that like ‘oh I don’t want to play,’ but I’m like bro, I dominated the All-Star game for 12-13 years in a row. Now I don’t even get no votes. So that part kind of messed me up.”
Shaq explained that his previous achievements didn’t bring him comfort because he always felt the need to accomplish more.
During his peak, Shaq was incredibly dominant, putting up 29.7 points and 13.6 rebounds per game in his best-ever season, earning him league MVP, Finals MVP, and a championship title.
This successful season marked the first of three consecutive championships he won alongside Kobe Bryant with the Lakers.
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