O'Neal, Shaquille R.
Basketball
b. March 6, 1972, Newark, NJ
Quick, agile, and a great leaper, the 7-foot-1, 301-pound O'Neal was recognized as a phenomenon as a junior in high school, when he was a little bit, but not much, smaller. At Louisiana State University, he was an All-American in 1990 and 1991.
He led NCAA Division I teams with 14.7 rebounds a game as a sophomore and with 5.2 blocked shots per game as a junior in 1991, when he was the consensus college player of the year.
In three years as a starter at LSU, O'Neal averaged 21.6 points a game, shooting .575 from the floor. He left school after his junior year and was made the first pick in the 1992 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic.
O'Neal was named the league's rookie of the year in 1993 after scoring 1,893 points in 81 games, a 23.4 average, pulling down 1,122 rebounds, and blocking 286 shots.
He averaged 29.3 points per game to lead the NBA in scoring in 1994-95, when the Magic reached the NBA finals, only to swept by the Houston Rockets. The following season, they lost in the Eastern Conference finals. O'Neal then signed with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent. One reason for the move was that he hoped to further budding careers as an actor and rap singer.
Neither of those careers really blossomed, however, and O'Neal's hopes for an NBA championship didn't advance very far, either, until Phil Jackson took over as coach of the Lakers in 1999. Jackson, who had coached the Chicago Bulls to six championships, promptly guided the Lakers to three in a row.
In Jackson's first season, O'Neal won the MVP awards for the regular season, the All-Star game and the NBA Finals. He was only the third player to accomplish that. He was also named the MVP of the championship finals in 2001 and 2002.
The Lakers reached the finals again in 2004, but they were upset by the Detroit Pistons in five games, amid reports of dissension between O'Neal and guard Kobe Bryant, the team's co-star. O'Neal averaged 26.6 points and 10.8 rebounds a game in the losing cause.
The Lakers then decided to remake the team completely. Jackson's contract wasn't renewed and O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat for three players and a first-round draft choice.
O'Neal starred with the 1994 world championship team and the 1996 Gold Medal Olympic team. Also in 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.
His career scoring average is fourth all-time, behind Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor. O'Neal also ranks fourth in playoff scoring average. He has led the NBA in scoring twice (1994-95 and 1999-2000) and in field goal percentage five times (1993-94, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01).