NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has played for six franchises during his legendary NBA career that spanned 20 years.The Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal has been one of the most successful basketball players ever to play the game. He broke several records and earned numerous accolades cementing himself as one of the game’s legends.Diesel has four NBA titles, three Finals MVP awards, and a regular season MVP award to his name alongside many other accolades.
It has been noted that the NBA legend did not have the most favorable conditions growing up. He belonged to a humble family with his stepfather and mother playing a huge role in shaping his life. He showed signs of greatness when he was still young, he failed at going pro. His father, Phillip Harrison was tough on his son more often than not, but it was for his own good.
Shqauille O’ Neal had a conversation with his father
In the recently released ‘Shaq’ documentary, the former NBA champion details a huge argument with his father when he failed to go pro. O’Neal was just 17 and he wished to have another shot. However, his father was having none of it as he yelled at his son in front of his mother which left the former NBA champion questioning his life choices.
His journey to the league was filled with challenges. He failed to go pro once while playing for the LSU Tigers and this naturally left him distraught. O’Neal wished to have one more shot which didn’t sit right with Harrison. He wanted his son to complete his degree.
In the ‘Shaq’ documentary, the Los Angeles Lakers detailed the conversation he had with his father that fateful day. During a segment of the first episode, Shaq said:
“I said, I wanna go pro. He’s going ‘motherf**ker…. get out of my face’. So my mom said come with me baby. And my mom said ‘balance this check book’. I didn’t know what the f**k I was doing.”
